'Fascism Happens When....' New Solo Exhibition 14/3

Solo Exhibition Sarah Maple
Fascism Happens When…
14 – 28 march, 2026

Opening Saturday, March 14, 3:00 – 7:00 PM

In the souvenir shop installation ‘Fascism Happens When…’, one message takes center stage:
"Fascism happens when you’re busy making other plans."

An art installation that feels particularly timely in an era when the world changes faster than a kaleidoscope. In the shop, you’ll find T-shirts, baby grows, badges, hoodies, posters, stickers, enamel pins, pens, and mugs, all featuring this repeated message.

Sarah Maple forces us, through the familiar mechanism of commercial everyday objects, to confront an urgent message.

'I have made this work as a reminder that sadly history repeats itself. We must not allow ourselves to see the current state of the world as 'normal'. We must remain alert and active in the fight against fascism'.
– Sarah Maple

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Sarah Maple Artist Statement
Fascism Happens When You’re Busy Making Other Plans

Fascism Happens When You’re Busy Making Other Plans is my reinterpretation of the saying “Life happens when you’re busy making other plans,” originally written by Allen Saunders and later popularized by John Lennon in Beautiful Boy.

This version came to me as I reflected on the state of the world in 2026. I remembered how chaotic that period felt when Trump was elected, as if we were swept along in a daily rollercoaster of madness, while everything seemed to continue as usual. We worked, made plans, drank coffee, scrolled on. Only in retrospect did it become clear that this was one of the first signs of the gradual normalization of the far right in societies worldwide.

What once seemed shocking has become part of the present and of everyday life. Language and ideas that would have been unthinkable a generation ago now slip effortlessly into conversations, news feeds, and political debates, often without direct confrontation, precisely because life goes on.

History shows that fascism rarely appears suddenly. It settles in slowly: step by step, explained, normalized, ignored. Not despite our daily lives, but through them. In other words: fascism happens while we are busy making other plans.

This idea forms the core of my installation. The exhibition takes the shape of a gift or souvenir shop: a place directly associated with routine, consumption, and remembrance. The space is filled with everyday objects: planners, calendars, lighters, mugs, T-shirts, baby clothes, pins, keychains, posters, and stickers. All items carry the same repeated message: ‘Fascism Happens When You’re Busy Making Other Plans.’ These are objects you would normally use, wear, or give as gifts without thinking twice.

By choosing these everyday items, the message infiltrates daily life. Not as a grand gesture, but as a repeated confrontation during ordinary actions: a sip of coffee, a glance at the calendar, a key in the lock. Each object functions as a small interruption, a reminder that vigilance is not an abstract ideal, but something that unfolds in the midst of the lives we are living.
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Eyewitness testimony from Germany during the rise of the Third Reich
Albright, M. (2018). Fascism: A Warning. Harper.

‘To live through this process means that you absolutely cannot perceive it. Please try to believe me: each step was so small, so insignificant, so well explained, or sometimes even regretted, that unless you completely detached yourself from the whole from the very beginning, unless you understood where all these small measures, which no patriotic German could object to, would ultimately lead, nobody saw it growing day by day.

And then, one day too late, all your principles, if you were ever aware of them, come crashing down on you. The burden of self-deception has become too heavy, and a seemingly trivial incident, in my case, my son, barely more than a baby, saying “Jew pig”, makes everything collapse at once.

And then you see that everything, everything has changed, completely changed, right under your nose.’
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‘We can’t say we didn’t know.’
- Sophie McNeill, journalist, human rights and climate activist, author of We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know: Dispatches from an Age of Impunity (2020)

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Solo Exhibition Sarah Maple
Fascism Happens When…
Saturday, March 14 - Saturday, March 28, 2026
Open Wednesday to Sunday, 1:00 - 6:00 PM. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

Opening Saturday, March 14, 3:00 – 7:00 PM
Sarah Maple will be present

KochxBos Gallery
Eerste Anjeliersdwarsstraat 36
1015 NR Amsterdam

info@kochxbos.com
Hans +31 6 224 20808
Esther +31 6 288 46653

@kochxbos
kochxbos.com

Sarah included in Elle Magazine '40 For 40: Women In Art'

Sarah has been included in Elle’s '40 For 40: Women In Art' list! This was compiled in collaboration with an esteemed panel of judges: artistic director of Frieze, Eva Langret; fashion designer Rejina Pyo; Devyani Saltzman, director of arts and participation at the Barbican; Kate Bryan, global director of Art at Soho House; and Marie McPartlin, director of Somerset House Studios.
Kate Bryan said ‘In her multifaceted practice, Sarah interrogates identity and belonging with wit, playfulness and a dangerous edge.’

Aesthetica Art Prize Finalist

'Mother Tongue' News!

• Sarah has been shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize for the second time for her film ‘Mother Tongue’. The video will be shown at York Art Gallery in September with winner announcement.

• The work is currently being shown at Royal Scottish Academy until 8th June.

• It will be showing in London in November - more to come on this!

Royal Scottish Academy, 2025

NEW EXHIBITION THIS JUNE!

This past year Sarah has been collaborating on a brand new film work 'Breakfast Scene' with artist Meg Mosley. It's a feminist reimagining of  Morecambe and Wise' famous 1976 'Breakfast Sketch'. The sketch – set to the famous striptease tune – includes a series of humorous kitchen puns, playing on society’s various complex female roles. Like Morecambe and Wise, they take the mundane breakfast ritual and heighten it through physical comedy. 

As well as the film, they have also made a brand new photography series 'Domestic Abyss' which will be exhibited alongside it.

Join them for an exclusive first view of the film and exhibition. After the film viewing they will sit down for a Q&A with performance poet Woodzy.

Venue - County Mall, Crawley unit 79/80
Private View - 12th June at 7-9pm
Please RSVP by Thursday 5th June to hello@creativecrawley.com 
Exhibition dates 12 - 22 June. The space is open Thursdays - Sundays.

This work was made with Creative Crawley and supported by Arts Council England.

Image from ‘Breakfast Scene’
Maple & Mosley, 2025

Solo exhibition 'call me Mother' at naughton Gallery, Belfast

The Naughton Gallery launches its 2025 programme and marks the beginning of Queen’s University Belfast’s 180th anniversary celebrations with Call Me Mother, a solo exhibition by Sarah Maple.

Call Me Mother delves into the artist’s relatively recent experiences of motherhood, centring around Labour of Love (2022), a photographic installation visualising the 650 times her baby was fed over the course of three months. Comprising 650 images of Maple and her child, each photograph includes a hand-finished element concealing the artist’s face. In Maple’s own words, “The aim is to highlight the sheer volume of work that is expected of mothers and to challenge people to rethink the value of the time spent. Raising a child is seen as a female task, not a real job, thus unpaid and undervalued. Addressing this and rectifying the situation is the unfinished work of feminism”.

Ultimately, Call Me Mother offers a candid exploration of the realities of motherhood, shedding light on its undervalued labour while challenging societal perceptions of women during and after pregnancy. Provoking meaningful dialogue, the exhibition reaffirms Maple's role as an artist unafraid to tackle essential and timely issues.

EXHIBITION LAUNCH THU 09 JAN 2024, 5:30-8PM

Join us for the opening reception of CALL ME MOTHER. Free admission. Refreshments provided. All welcome.

ART IN THE A.M. WITH SARAH MAPLE AT 10 JAN 2024, 11AM - 12PM

Sarah is in conversation with the Naughton Gallery team. Attendance is free and refreshments are provided.

20/20 commission for Bradford Museums now on display

Two new artworks by Sarah have a been specially created for Bradford District Museums and Galleries (BDMG). The exhibition ‘Mother Tongue’ runs from 24 September 2024 – 17 November 2024 at Cartwright Hall.

As artist in residence, Maple has been working with Bradford District Museums and Galleries for the project, creating new artworks based on Bradford’s collection, her mixed cultural upbringing, and the experiences of Bradford residents.

Her new video work ‘Mother Tongue’ reflects on the importance of language, heritage, and cultural ties.  Maple herself grew up with her mother’s Punjabi-speaking family, but never learnt the language herself.

‘My Grandmother spoke no English… and we were incredibly close, even though we never had a full conversation… I felt like this distanced me from my cultural identity as an Asian person. I thought this work would resonate with many people who never learnt their Mother Tongues.’

The setting of the film echoes photos from Belle Vue Studio. Many newcomers to Bradford had their portraits taken there from 1926 until it closed in 1975.

In her second work, ‘Plait Performance’, Maple has created a body of 7 photographs in which she is portrayed standing within Bradford Museum and Galleries’ buildings. She is wearing a contemporary Punjabi outfit with a 10 meter plait – a reference to her Grandmother who always wore a long, traditional plait. She is alone in these grand spaces that store, as well as present, artworks and objects in the Bradford Museum and Galleries’ collections. In all photos, except one, Maple is seen from behind, passively viewing the collection items and the building as her plait trails to the floor and snakes away from her body, as if escaping. This represents the feelings of first-generation migrants on their arrival to Britain from countries with different climates, architecture and cultures.

This display is the outcome of Bradford District Museums and Galleries being part of the 20/20 project a 3-year programme led by the University of the Arts Decolonising Arts Institute with funding from Freelands Foundation, Arts Council England and UAL.

Sarah commissioned for 20/20 project for Decolonising Arts Institute at UAL

Sarah has been commissioned for Decolonising Arts Institute at UAL. She will undertake a 15-month paid residency hosted by partner museums, galleries, and art collections, and participate in a peer support network, to develop her artistic practice. Sarah’s residency will be at at Bradford Museums and Galleries and will lead to the production of a commissioned artwork that will enter their permanent collection, with a print acquired by the 19 partner institutions.

20/20 was launched in November 2021 by UAL Decolonising Arts Institute, working in partnership with 20 UK public collections, museums and galleries. The project has been generously supported by a £300,000 grant from Freelands Foundation, a £300,000 grant from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants Programme and funding from UAL. 

The project was conceived in response to urgent calls for action within arts and culture in the wake of Black Lives Matter, as social inequities and racial injustices continued to be amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The selected artists work across a diverse range of media, traversing painting, print, photography, filmmaking, animation, drawing, ceramics, and sculpture. The first cohort of 8 artists was announced in September 2021, and their residencies are currently underway, pairing a total of 20 artists with 20 UK collections and resulting in 20 new permanent acquisitions over the life of the project.

20/20 partners:

• The Box, Plymouth

• Bradford District Museums and Galleries

• Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

• Compton Verney, Warwickshire

• Harris Museum, Preston

• The Hepworth Wakefield

• The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry

• Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow

• Kettle's Yard, Cambridge

• Leeds Art Gallery

• The Lightbox, Woking

• Manchester Art Gallery

• MIMA (Middlesbrough Museum of Modern Art)

• National Disability Arts Collection and Archive (NDACA)

• National Museums NI (Ulster Museum)

• Pallant House Gallery, Chichester

• Sheffield Museums Trust

• Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool

• Wolverhampton Art Gallery

• Birmingham Museums Trust

'Labour of Love' book out now!

A brand new book featuring all 650 works from the ‘Labour of Love’ installation, including an essay by Dr Kate McMillan.
Click here to get your copy!

ABOUT THE BOOK

After having her baby, Sarah decided to track the number of times her newborn baby was fed over three months. She counted 650 feeds and created an equal number of artworks . Each piece was a picture of herself and her baby - but in every image she erased herself and kept the baby visible.

The installation “Labour of Love” showcases all these artworks and invites you as a visitor to contemplate the appreciation of motherhood. This breathtaking installation was first exhibited by KochxBos Gallery during Art Rotterdam and sparked numerous, sometimes emotional, conversations and reactions. Now, it has been transformed into a brick-sized book, a collector’s item featuring all (!) the amazing artworks: a whopping 688 pages thick!

688 pages full colour
150 x 215 x 55 mm 
100 grs Munken White paper
Black reading ribbon
9789082194494
Click here to get your copy!

New commission 'Let Them Eat Nothing' for 'The Gallery'

Sarah’s new work ‘Let Them Eat Nothing’ is a new commission from The Gallery, a new platform exhibiting art in public spaces all over the UK. The theme for this season was ‘The State We’re In’.

‘Let Them Eat Nothing’ came from a build-up of frustration towards the government. For Sarah, this had been brewing for some time but particularly since the pandemic. As UK citizens rely more and more on food banks and even warm banks this winter, Maple feels there is a ‘let them eat cake’ attitude from those in power.

“It reflects on the aftermath of ‘party-gate’ and our Prime Minister apparently being ‘ambushed with a cake’.With many saying ‘it’s all a lot of fuss over a cake’. I felt this was the perfect symbol to reflect ‘The State We’re In’.” – Sarah Maple

'Self Portrait with pocket square' at the centre for british photography.

The Centre for British Photography is a new gallery opening in January 2023 as a hub for British Photography. Located in central London with 8,000 square feet of space over three floors, the Centre will stage specially curated exhibitions and work with partner organisations across the UK.  It will also present works from the Hyman Collection in order to provide an over-view of British photography. 

Sarah’s work will be in ‘Headstrong’, curated by Anna Fox.

‘Headstrong’ celebrates the work of living photographers based in Britain. It looks at women who have made work that is concerned with how they are represented, what they are dealing with in their everyday lives and what it means to embrace diversities that challenge the conservative order of a patriarchal society. Their work is playful, thought-provoking and often surprising.

Anna Fox, from Fast Forward, comments:

“Fast Forward and Centre for British Photography are celebrating the work of women artists and photographers, based in the UK, who are breaking the mould, proposing new ideas and inventing new identities. This exhibition foregrounds artists and photographers who have been using self-portraiture as a tool to crack open the oppressive, often punishing nature of patriarchy. From exposing cyberbullies to exploring the multiplicity of female identity these portraits re-invent out dated concepts of how we should behave, how we should be and what we can become. The work speaks back to the tedious drone of misogynist culture(s) and proposes new ways of being and understanding.”

Sarah Maple Shortlisted For Aesthetica Art Prize 2022

Sarah’s video art sitcom ‘The Sarah Maple Show’ has been shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art prize 2022. The 20 shortlisted artists will be exhibited at York Art Gallery from 24 June - 18 September 2022.

A statement from the Aesthetica Art Prize Director and Curator, Cherie Federico:

"Over the past two years, we have witnessed radical shifts in the ways that we live, communicate, work and play – as well as how we travel, socialise and experience the joys of culture. The Aesthetica Art Prize is an annual celebration of contemporary art. The exhibition, which brings together this year’s talented finalists, invites you to explore, discover and engage with themes from our rapidly changing world – wide-ranging topics that include the ethics of representation, mass digitisation, globalisation, diasporic identities and the continuing threats posed by the climate crisis.  

 These pieces – both individually and collectively – disrupt the status quo. Together, they offer both personal and universal narratives whilst asking key questions about life right here in the 21st century, as we emerge from the pandemic. The projects span Argentina, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the UK and the USA, and push the boundaries of genre, from painting, photography and sculpture, to video, mixed-media and installation.

 The Aesthetica Art Prize is a way for you to convene, discuss and make sense of the present moment, at this critical juncture in history. Art has the power to unite. It is transformative. It takes us to new places, and introduces us to new cultures, but most importantly, it reminds us of our humanity."  

SARAH MAPLE SOLO AT ART ROTTERDAM, BOOTH 61

LABOUR OF LOVE 

May 18 - 22
At the opening night Sarah Maple will do a live performance

"Before having my baby last year I knew one thing for certain about motherhood: the fact that worldwide, mothers are underpaid, overworked, exploited, overlooked, isolated and perpetually guilty.

Something else that I knew before going into parenting: we’re expected to do all this work for free.

We are told one obvious benefit of breastfeeding is that it’s free. Breastfeeding is an on demand, physically exhausting task that Women are told they need to do for at least 6 months. Free? It’s only free if you don’t value Women’s time.

Yes - of course - having a baby is a personal ‘choice’. But it’s a choice made by a man as well as a woman.
What would happen if all Women one day decided that this ‘choice’ wasn’t worth impacting their careers and earning potential. Even today, in a world where we are told Feminism has served its purpose, calls for affordable childcare or flexible working are met with a yawn and an eye roll. Most mothers work part time, where pay is lower and prospects for promotion are reduced by more than half. By the time a woman’s first child is 12, she is paid, on average, 33% less than a man. Conversely becoming a father actually gives men’s earnings a boost.

It has always struck me as a peculiar contradiction that if a woman chooses not to have children, and avoid this fate, she is looked upon with pity or confusion. Becoming a mother is what women are supposed to do. It’s our life’s purpose.

But why is it that any work predominantly associated as ‘Women’s work’ is considered ‘other’ – it’s unimportant, disregarded and not valued.
Not even by women?

Since having my baby I decided to log every feed or a nappy change and the time it’s taken. Looking back on the data, I am astounded at the sheer amount of hours I’m putting in to the thankless (as far as society is concerned) task of being a parent. Not to mention all the things I hadn’t logged; the length of my pregnancy, all the doctors appointments, the burping, the holding, the worrying etc, the list goes on…. 
 

My new installation ‘Labour of Love’ at Art Rotterdam is a visual depiction of this data over a three month period. In total our baby was fed 650 times. My installation will be 650 images of myself and my baby, each representing a feed, each with a hand finished element covering my face. The aim is to highlight the sheer volume of work that is expected of mothers and to challenge people to rethink the value of the time spent. On the opening night I will do a live performance where I will write the number of each feed on each individual card.

Raising a child is seen as a female task, not a real job. Thus unpaid and undervalued. Addressing this and rectifying the situation is the unfinished work of feminism."

- Sarah Maple 

The carpet is made by Moooi carpets, thank you for this valuable contribution.

Solo Exhibition 'The Opposite To A Feminist' opening 15 Nov at GIANT, Bournemouth

NEW EXHIBITION AT KOCHXBOS AMSTERDAM FEATURED IN HET PAROOL

Sarah interviewed in 'offended by irvine welsh' on sky arts

My Video Art-meets-sitcom Piece Now Available On Sky Arts as an hour long feature!

I am excited to announce my new Video Art piece will be available to watch on 14th October on Sky Arts which is now free to view!

Set in a vibrant and cutting edge Crawley, Sarah Maple’s Nazi Sexy Shark Show is a ground breaking series of six films that fuse video art with sit-com conventions.

The title arbitrarily takes its name from the words with the highest ‘click through’ appeal and surprises viewers at every turn as it sinks its teeth into the contemporary art landscape, taking aim at the experience of being a ‘female’ artist, dealing with the press, the whims of celebrity collectors, and the awkwardness of putting it all out there as performance art.

The films are firmly semi-autobiographical, lending the series a heightened reality that draws influence from sitcoms like Extras and Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as seminal artists such as Cindy Sherman and Sarah Lucas. The series features real-life collectors and art-world colleagues such as David Tennant, Sonia Boyce, Will Gompertz, Nikki Bedi and curator Kate Bryan. With a concurrent show of my work at Jealous Gallery in Shoreditch providing viewers a chance to see the films in a real-life art installation context these films provide a meta experience, blurring the line between fiction and reality. Featured actors include Eloise Dixon, Grace Saif, star of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and Natasha Vasadani, of the News Revue podcast.

On October 14th at 11pm the series will air on Sky Arts (Freeview Channel 11) in its entirety, back to back, as one 65 minute feature. After that, each episode will be available to watch via Sky’s ‘Sky TV on Demand’ catchup service, making video art available to all to view from home.

Exhibition at Jealous Gallery now open until 18th October

New solo exhibition ‘Sarah Maple’s Nazi Sexy Shark Show’ is now open! To view the catalogue click here

Sarah Maple Calls Out the Artworld - by Kate Bryan

It is a time for reckoning in the art world, where straight white men have dominated both the commercial and institutional aspects of the art establishment for centuries. Sarah Maple, born in Eastbourne in 1985, was compelled to address structural sexism and racism in her work even as an art student, where she noticed that female students were given less air time and respect. Whilst still at college, she created the first of her self-portrait series, a triptych which borrows the person-holding-sign-with-text motif of the great YBA era artist, Gillian Wearing. From left we see Maple dressed in traditional Muslim attire, coyly smiling, her sign reads “I wish I had a penis”. This is followed by Maple in only red lipstick, bra and knickers with a franker expression and sign, “because then I’d fuck you”. Finally, we see her in a suit with red tie smugly smiling “then steal your job.” The appalled and shocked response from her professor and some of her classmates was a catalyst for Maple embracing provocation in her work and adopting an attitude that shone a big, noisy and often funny light on the elephant in the room.

A decade later and Maple has harnessed this frustration, dismay and disappointment in prevailing attitudes into mature and thought- provoking work that challenges ideas around identity, religion, race, the artworld, feminism and freedom of expression.  Often using herself as a conduit to challenge stereotypes and normative behaviour, Maple is adept at confronting complex issues that we are all thinking about with wit, irony and a startling honesty. Maple’s own mixed religious and cultural background informs much of her work and her latest exhibition, which I am honoured to curate, is a timely exploration into the systemic race, class and gender barriers in the artworld.

Maple’s title, Nazi Sexy Shark Show, arbitrarily takes its name from words with the highest ‘click through’ appeal and includes painting, text-based marble works, collage, photography and video. The focal point of the exhibition is a ground breaking series of short films. Maple has essentially invented an ‘art-com’, fusing video art with sitcoms. Exploring her experience of being an outspoken artist, each film is a semi-autobiographical piece, a heightened reality that draws influence from Extras and Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as seminal artists such as Cindy Sherman and Sarah Lucas. Often absurd, and always biting in its commentary, the films are championed by those that agreed to take part, sending themselves up as they did so. David Tenant, a real-life collector of Maple’s work, plays an egocentric and less than generous version of himself which is filmed at ‘Crawley Soho House’ (in reality the top floor of 76 Dean Street after Nick Jones couldn’t resist her idea).

The piece also includes the seminal artist Sonia Boyce, much talked about for being first black woman artist to represent Britain at the next Venice Biennale. She also has a run in with seasoned art critics Will Gompertz and Nikki Bedi. My cameo takes me to an uncomfortable place as I perform as a bad feminist version of myself, instructing Maple with sexist, racist and patronising advice which is based on Maple’s own experiences.  The art-com is a meta experience, blurring the line between fiction and reality. This is heightened by the fact that concurrent to being exhibited in a gallery, the piece will also be available to view in the U.K. on Sky Arts as short films– a channel which is now free to view. By positioning her work in people’s homes in this way, Maple is able to break down elitism that pervades the artworld, adapting the power of video art to include the accessibility of a sitcom.

Another work that bends reality is the photographic series, Portraits With Fans. We see Maple reluctantly posing grumpily for photographs with her adoring fans – some of the great male artists of our time: Damien Hirst; Jeff Koons; Grayson Perry; Anthony Gormley; Anish Kapoor; the Chapman Brothers; Marc Quinn; Mat Collishaw; Martin Creed; Olafur Eliasson, Wolfgang Tillmans and Matthew Barney. All perfectly photoshopped, Maple reverses the tables on these seasoned art world names, making them ridiculous in their fandom of a young, mixed race female artist. In her Celebrities in Stone series Maple plays with truth instead of fiction. The ingenious tablets present real-life tabloid headlines carved in marble such as Meghan Markle’s Avocado Snack Fuels Human Rights Abuses and Kim Kardashian Goes Topless With A Parakeet. Akin to ancient roman treasures, the new permanence of the medium highlights the facile and inane nature of ‘news’.

Maple also presents unreservedly joyful and exquisitely put together work such as the hand cut collage series that celebrates the female form in a vortex of beautiful shapes and colour. A parallel series about women, Clocks, employs digital collage to juxtaposes a selection of The Sun’s topless Page 3 Girls with their heads replaced by old fashioned clocks. The combination of imagery is drawn from being a young woman coming of age in the U.K in the nineties and the series highlights biological pressure on all women.  Her large painted self- portrait, Self Portrait with Preceptor is also a subtle but striking work, one that removes artifice and lays the artist’s soul bare. She sits in front of a blank canvas facing the viewer, making us either her accomplice or critic, with her mother lovingly standing beside her, waiting for the work to reveal itself. A meditation on the role of the artist and potential family issues surrounding making such personal artwork, it is a quiet, reflective painting. In the Jealous Gallery window, a Neon asks ‘Why Art’ almost rubbishing her whole endeavor. Maple is a provocateur, insisting we pay attention to the hypocrisies and dangerous elitism of the artworld. But she also rejoices in the artworld she despairs at, her power is to unpick the system with disarming satire and wit. It’s a timely show and we need artists like Maple to both ask and beautifully answer ‘Why Art’ with exhibitions like this.

SARAH MAPLE'S NAZI SEXY SHARK SHOW - OPENING OCTOBER 1ST 2020

SARAH MAPLE'S NAZI SEXY SHARK SHOW

A SOLO EXHIBITION AT JEALOUS GALLERY CURATED BY KATE BRYAN

The unmissable exhibition is a ground breaking collaboration between one of the most potent and singular young voices in British art and a curator who is a loud champion of female artists and voice for anti-elitism in the arts.

 British artist Sarah Maple (b. 1985) will debut a new exhibition curated by Kate Bryan, arts Broadcaster and Head of Collections for Soho House globally. Maple is recognised for her provocative work that challenges ideas around identity, religion, the artworld, feminism and freedom of expression. Often using herself as a conduit to challenge stereotypes and normative behaviour, Maple is adept at confronting complex issues that we are all thinking about with wit, irony and a startling honesty. Maple’s own mixed religious and cultural background informs much of her work. She works across a variety of media including painting, photography, video, performance, ready-mades and collage. Her past exhibitions have focussed on Brexit, ardent feminist themes, xenophobia, Trump and toxic masculinity.

This exhibition is a culmination of her work to date and is her sharpest and most biting presentation yet: a satire on the artworld that she both rejoices in and despairs at. The exhibition arbitrarily takes its name from the words with the highest ‘click through’ appeal and will include text-based marble works, collage, mixed media installation and video. A key work is a ground breaking series of short films that fuse art with sitcoms. An ‘art-com’ if you will. Exploring the experience of being an artist, and a very particular outspoken artist, each film is a semi-autobiographical piece, a heightened reality that draws influence from Extras and Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as seminal artists such as Cindy Sherman and Sarah Lucas. Featuring Maple’s real-life collectors and colleagues –such as David Tennant, Sonia Boyce, Will Gompertz, Nikki Bedi and the curator Kate Bryan playing a bad feminist – the fictional sitcom/video art will be a meta experience, blurring the line between fiction and reality. In October the films will also be available to view on Sky Arts – which is now free to view and available to all. By having what is essentially video art meets sitcom available to all to view from home, Maple and Bryan aim to push the boundaries of what art can be and who it is available to.

'Don't ask me where I'm from' exhibition with Fondazione Imago Mundi and Aga Khan Museum.

GALLERIE DELLE PRIGIONI - DEC 6 2019 - FEB 2 2020

Don't Ask Me Where I'm From, is an exhibition dedicated to migration, the fruit of a collaboration between the Fondazione Imago Mundi and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, an exhibition and research space that is part the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, a philanthropic institution founded by the Aga Khan. Don't Ask Me Where I'm From, curated by Marion Eele (Imago Mundi) and Marianne Fenton (the Aga Khan Museum) brings together the works of a group of first, second and third generation artists, selected by a committee of experts (curators, museum directors, artists). With the privilege and complexity of their first-hand knowledge, these artists engage with the personal and collective migrant experience, willing and able to express entirely new cultural convergences. Art and migration, told - revealed, examined, explored - through contemporary works (paintings, photography, videos, installations) that originate from the biographical experience of each of the 15 artists selected, a precious testament, in life as in art, to the myriad worlds that our world encompasses: traditions, cultures, passions, new ideas, ancient customs and contradictions. Daniela Edburg: Mexico; USA eL Seed: France; Tunisia Elena El Asmar: Italy; Lebanon Erica Kaminishi: Japan; Brazil; France Farihah Aliyah Shah: Canada; Guyana Gui Mohallem: Brazil; Lebanon Jeanno Gaussi: Germany; Afghanistan John Young Zerunge: Australia; China, Hong Kong Houda Terjuman: Morocco; Syria; Switzerland Liberty Battson: South Africa; Zimbabwe Marija Nemčenko: Lithuania; Russia; UK Sarah Maple: UK; India Shinpei Takeda: Mexico; Japan; Germany Sukaina Kubba: Iraq; Canada Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi: USA; South Africa; Turkey

Sarah commissioned for BBC Arts film 'What does it mean to be British?'

Sarah was commissioned by BBC and Google Arts to respond to googled questions that don't have an answer. Sarah responded to 'What does it mean to be British?' To view click here

Syllabus V at Wysing Arts Centre

Sarah has been selected for Syllabus V, a national, collaboratively-produced alternative learning programme, delivered by Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge; Eastside Projects, Birmingham; Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts), London; S1 Artspace, Sheffield; and Spike Island, Bristol. For Syllabus V, The NewBridge Project, Newcastle, have joined as a guest partner. The selected artists for Syllabus V are: Sophie Blagden, Juliet Davis-Dufayard, Yuxin Jiang, Hwa Young Jung, Sarai Kirshner, Jack Lewdjaw, Sarah Maple, Duncan Poulton and Aliaskar Torkaliaskari. Now in its fifth year, Syllabus V provides a learning programme for artists over a ten month period and is supported using public funding from Arts Council England. Syllabus is developed collaboratively with the participating artists, the partner institutions and the artistic advisors, who this year are Barby Asante and Louise Shelley.