Lengthening days and the stirrings of the season’s first flowers: this month brings small promises of spring. Five inspiring events to welcome February, from hand-woven histories to an exhibition reimagining fashion’s future.
Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land at the Barbican, London
Indonesian artist Citra Sasmita is debuting her first solo exhibition in the UK with Into Eternal Land, a new commission transforming The Curve at the Barbican. Working across painting, sculptural installation, embroidery, and scent, Sasmita will take visitors on a multi-sensory journey through the 90-meter-long gallery, exploring themes of ancestral memory, ritual, and migration.
Into Eternal Land is on at The Curve, Barbican until 21 April 2025.
Diedrick Brackens: Woven Stories at The Holburne Museum, Bath
The Holburne Museum presents the first UK exhibition by Diedrick Brackens, whose vibrant, hand-woven tapestries explore African American and queer identity, autobiography, and American history. Blending techniques from West African weaving, Southern quilting, and European tapestry-making, Brackens uses hand-dyed cotton to acknowledge its brutal historical significance, creating intricate works that intertwine mythology, history, and his magical realist worldview.
Woven Stories is on at The Holburne Museum until 26 May 2025.
SOIL at Somerset House, London
SOIL: The World at Our Feet brings together leading artists, scientists, and thinkers to explore the vital role of soil in sustaining life on Earth. Featuring works by Sam Williams, Something & Son, Semantica, Juan Cortés, and Vivien Sansour, the exhibition highlights soil’s ecological, cultural, and political significance. Through sensory installations, historical objects, short films, and scientific artifacts, SOIL examines themes of life above and below ground, as well as soil’s potential to heal our planet. Curated by Somerset House, the exhibition encourages a deeper understanding of our relationship with the Earth and a more sustainable future.
SOIL is on at Somerset House until April 2025.
Bianca Raffaella: Faint Memories at Flowers Gallery, London
The first major solo show of Margate-based artist and activist Bianca Raffaella. A partially sighted artist, her ephemeral and floral paintings evoke the artists’ experience of beauty in braille. Bianca relies on touch in her painting process, never losing contact with the canvas, blending delicate hues for cloudlike impressions with her fingertips.
Faint Memories is on at Flowers Gallery from 12 February until 15 March.
Future Observatory: Tomorrow’s Wardrobe at the Design Museum, London
Tomorrow’s Wardrobe brings together trailblazing designers, including Stella McCartney, Ponda, Ahluwalia, Ranra, Phoebe English, and TOAST, who are transforming how clothes are created, made, and worn. Highlighting the fashion industry’s significant environmental impact—from material waste to water pollution and exploitative labor practices—the exhibition showcases innovative solutions addressing these challenges, from upcycling and recycling to artificial intelligence and digital IDs.
Curated by Future Observatory, the Design Museum’s national research program for the green transition, Tomorrow’s Wardrobe explores the cutting-edge tools and techniques redefining fashion’s future, blending high-tech advances like robotic arms with low-tech approaches like sewing machines, to imagine a more responsible industry.
As part of the exhibition, TOAST are running a Sashiko repair workshop, sharing knowledge on giving your clothes a longer life.
Tomorrow’s Wardrobe is on at the Design Museum until August 2025.
Image 1: Citra Sasmita, Into Eternal Land, Installation View, 2025. © Jo Underhill. Courtesy of Barbican.
Image 2: Diedrick Brackens, Woven Histories, Installation View, 2025. Courtesy of the Design Museum.
Image 3: Dr. Tim Cockerill – A Diversity of Forms, image courtesy of the artist
Image 4: Bianca Raffaella, Fading into Pink, 2024, Acrylic on Linen. Courtesy of Flowers Gallery.
Image 5: Courtesy of Vivobarefoot.
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