Elephant Magazine

Elephant Magazine Life Through Art

“In this age of accelerated remixing, of algorithm-fed aesthetics, I wondered: where does my own rhythm sit? Who gets to...
06/08/2025

“In this age of accelerated remixing, of algorithm-fed aesthetics, I wondered: where does my own rhythm sit? Who gets to have a “song” in the noise? The question is personal, but also structural; it’s about authorship, and the struggle to locate oneself in a fragmented world.”

The artist, filmmaker and DJ reflects on the neo-diaspora, the politics of beauty, dance as resistance, and her current Tate Modern () commission — a sonic-visual work that weaves together memory, protest, and digital vernaculars. Words by Katrina Nzegwu. ().

All photography by Saffron Liberty ().

Bibbe Hansen (.hansen) believes in serendipity — and with good reason. Over sushi with artist Shanekia McIntosh () she r...
02/08/2025

Bibbe Hansen (.hansen) believes in serendipity — and with good reason. Over sushi with artist Shanekia McIntosh () she reflects on how chance has threaded itself through every chapter of her legendary life, from Andy Warhol’s the Silver Factory to her creative use of the virtual reality platform Second Life.

Bibbe Hansen, photographed by Christian DeFonte () for Elephant

“I need to know that an exhibition is always going to be valuable for the artist, but also meaningful for audiences. The...
31/07/2025

“I need to know that an exhibition is always going to be valuable for the artist, but also meaningful for audiences. The crux of my role is often being the middleman who helps a gallery or institution understand how they can support the artist and help them articulate what they want. Artists should be able to focus on making their work and not have to worry about the rest of it.”

The curator, writer and creative consultant, Gemma Rolls-Bentley (), speaks with Elephant’s Alma Feigis () about the value of intergenerational artistic dialogues, seeing the world through her children’s eyes, and finding a sense of home in an artwork, a club, or a coastline.

Gemma Rolls-Bentley, photographed by Vic Lentaigne () for Elephant.

“I don’t want to live in an art world that is just the same people. The same fifty people, but also just the same people...
29/07/2025

“I don’t want to live in an art world that is just the same people. The same fifty people, but also just the same people from the same background. You know who they are before you even talk to them. That doesn’t feel like London to me, either. I go to these events in the art world, and… I’ve always been uncomfortable with that. Anyone who comes from a background where they’ve never experienced that, it’s always quite a kind of surprise and a shock, right? That’s why I really loved it. Seeing those people at the Whitgift, it was normal, but then there were also the weirdos. I want an art world that looks like that, feels like that.”

On the occasion of his joint exhibition with Arthur Jafa (), Mark Leckey (.leckey) speaks with Ethan Price () about film as collage, magic on TikTok, and the mythology of shopping centres.

Mark Leckey, Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore, 1999, Video. Credit: Courtesy of the artist, Gladstone Gallery, Cabinet Gallery, and Galerie Buchholz

24/07/2025

Artist and engineer Xin Liu () explores how the vastness of space reflects the intimacy of human diasporic experience.

For her newest Artlab Digital Commission (.artlab), “NOAA: a fall towards home,” Liu draws inspiration from the final transmissions of real decommissioned NOAA weather satellites, giving them distinct voices. Users can choose from three unique orbits to begin a clickable odyssey through space.

Each story, crafted by Liu, builds from the actual history, flight paths, and malfunctions of NOAA-15, 18, and 19. Through each story, you’ll meet a different satellite and encounter a distinct perspective exploring questions surrounding purpose, belonging, and the bittersweet act of watching “home” from afar.

For more, check out artlab.hyundai.com to explore and learn more about the making of the digital commission.

“Even in talking about the development of the show, the central Freudian typo – which swaps out reconciliation for recon...
21/07/2025

“Even in talking about the development of the show, the central Freudian typo – which swaps out reconciliation for reconsolidation; turning the political idea of restorative justice and repairing damage done to indigenous communities into something more economic and imperial by using bureaucracy and rhetoric; the often hollow language of so-called post-conflict healing– seemed to force a double-take. “When we started talking about this word reconsolidation with our colleagues at Hayward, they were like, oh, you mean reconciliation?” The typo then, is designed not just to be a way of reconsidering the legacy of empire, but also something that asks audiences to consider not just what’s being said, but what can’t be spoken.”

Sam Moore (.moore94) speaks to artists Ghazaleh Avarzamani (.avarzamani) and Ali Ahadi () about their current exhibition, Freudian Typo, at Hayward Gallery (.gallery).

Installation view of Freudian Typo. Freudian Typo, Photo Rob Harris. Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery.

“Did you know that Southend-on-Sea has the longest pleasure pier in the world? Neither did I before spending a sunny Mon...
16/07/2025

“Did you know that Southend-on-Sea has the longest pleasure pier in the world? Neither did I before spending a sunny Monday afternoon walking all 1.33 miles of it with a Mr. Whippy and the British artist Haroon Mirza, starting from the rollercoasters of Adventure Island until we reached the mirror maze halfway across the Thames Estuary.”

Writer Annabel Downes () and artist Haroon Mirza () discuss the ideas and process behind his latest commission for Focal Point Gallery () while on a stroll down the world’s longest pleasure pier.

Photography, authors own.

“Each artist pursues something unknown even to ourselves, we jump into the unknown, so there’s a lot to fight. So, when ...
14/07/2025

“Each artist pursues something unknown even to ourselves, we jump into the unknown, so there’s a lot to fight. So, when people ask us to explain our work, it feels overwhelming. There are so many things we don’t know.”

Haegue Yang () discusses artistic conviction, creative friendships, and the beauty of intangible materials with Stephanie Yeap.

Installation view of Haegue Yang: Lost Lands and Sunken Fields, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas. February 1–April 27, 2025. Photo by Kevin Todora, courtesy of the artist and Nasher Sculpture Center. 

Installation view of The Intermediate–Six-Legged Carbonous Epiphyte Imoogi (2025) in Haegue Yang: Lost Lands and Sunken Fields, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas. February 1–April 27, 2025. Photo courtesy of the Nasher Sculpture Center.

“A metal sculpture of a willow tree stands before me with ribbons for branches. Tied to the tree are hundreds of orange,...
10/07/2025

“A metal sculpture of a willow tree stands before me with ribbons for branches. Tied to the tree are hundreds of orange, pink, and yellow ribbons inscribed with messages of resilience and resistance written by women in the nearby slivers of shade. “Keep up the fight,” one reads in strides of furious black ink. “This Barbie’s job is rage,” says another, flying beside one that frankly states: “Take no one’s bullsh*t.””

Saffron Swire () reports from Shangri-La (), a playground, a living, breathing outdoor art gallery at Glastonbury Festival. Words and photography by Saffron Swire.

Photography, authors own.

“We could call it a confession, but we carry no shame, we spent every night of Glastonbury in the Downlow last year, so ...
07/07/2025

“We could call it a confession, but we carry no shame, we spent every night of Glastonbury in the Downlow last year, so we didn’t need an excuse to do it again. We’d shoot it ten times over if it meant having a space saved for us on the floor. To enter, you join the swollen, expectant queue. After eighteen years, everyone knows it’s one of the best clubs in the world, and getting in is part of the ritual. Some of our friends waited two hours, but it’s worth it.”

Ethan Joseph () and Ollie Tikare () recount the wild, joyful, and sweaty magic of The NYC Downlow at Glastonbury, a q***r utopia and living tribute to disco’s golden age.

All photography by Ollie Tikare.

“Within the first few minutes of Julien’s film, we hear the unmistakable sound of creaking trees. I can’t say I’ve spent...
02/07/2025

“Within the first few minutes of Julien’s film, we hear the unmistakable sound of creaking trees. I can’t say I’ve spent enough time in the woods to know this sound intimately, and yet my bones recognise it. The sound stirs something in me, the way the clack of my keys does as a writer—mechanical, inherited, older than memory. I wonder why I know this sound as a signal to run. As Douglass walks through a haunted landscape, the main screen ultimately shifts: two Black feet swing in the wind. We’ve found our creaking tree. We’ve found the source of its aching.”

Shaquille Heath () reflects on Lessons of the Hour, Isaac Julien’s () cinematic tribute to abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and the ongoing struggle for justice across time, borders, and the present-day United States.

Installation view of Isaac Julien, Lessons of the Hour (2019) in Isaac Julien: I Dream a World at the de Young Museum, San Francisco (2025). Photograph by Henrik Kam.

“Oracle came about from my interest in mythology in general,” the artist explains. “Historical mythology from various cu...
01/07/2025

“Oracle came about from my interest in mythology in general,” the artist explains. “Historical mythology from various cultures, but then also realising that, as an artist, I’m a storyteller, and each piece has some degree of narrative to it. So, I’m mythmaking as well, looking back at myth and then creating contemporary myths that could actually be analysed and influential in the future. I think of future generations looking back at this piece and trying to figure out what society made it. Where did it come from? Is this a European object? Is it an African object? An American object, whatever that might mean? And what was happening in the world for it to be made?”

Elodie Saint-Louis () speaks with Sanford Biggers () about the whitewashing of Greco-Roman statues, the decontextualisation of African art, and performativity of objects.

Sanford Biggers. Photographed by Daniel Greer.

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