Exhibiting in East of the Aldgate Pump
Whitechapel Gallery, London
14 July to 6 September
Jyll Bradley’s installation Within a Budding Grove (Memory Room) forms part of the Whitechapel Gallery’s 125th anniversary exhibition. Within a Budding Grove (Memory Room) juxtaposes photographic self-portraits taken in the late 1980’s with recent sculptures, which, reflecting the artist’s height are also a form of self-portrait.
Bradley took the self-portraits almost 40 years ago but did not show them at the time. Brought to light from her archive, the photographs express a desire to try out identities, looks, personae and costumes exploring androgyny and queerness. In some, Bradley is dressed as Orlando the shape-shifting, time-travelling character from Virginia Woolf’s eponymous novel. These images – held between playfulness and vulnerability – convey both a desire to be seen and a desire for privacy with the artist turning her back on the viewer. Some of the images are framed with Bradley’s signature fluorescent Plexiglass – a material she uses for her recent large-scale installations. The artist refers to this as ‘framing the past with my present’.
The photographs were taken in Bradley’s bedroom in Kent, south east England. The artist evokes this immersive space through the creation of a wallpaper whose pattern derives from the hop field geometry from the artist’s childhood landscape. This wallpaper draws together this work which as a whole expresses feelings of belonging and identity, both representational and abstract.
whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/east-of-the-aldgate-pump/
I am thrilled to announce that my work has recently been acquired by significant UK collections: The Elton John and David Furnish Collection; Sheffield Museums Trust (with support from the V&A); The Box, Plymouth.
sheffieldmuseums.org.uk/whats-on/lives-in-focus
Photo by Leandro Justen.
I am excited to be one of 12 artists chosen for this special exhibition celebrating 125 years of the Whitechapel Gallery.
whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/east-of-the-aldgate-pump/
15 July – 6 September
Photo ©Leandro Justen.
I am delighted to announce my first public commission in the U.S.A. Portal (for Silver Eel Cove) commissioned by Lighthouse Works on Fishers Island, NY will be in situ until December 2026.
Photo by Nate Malinowski.
I am thrilled that my survey show Running and Returning at The Box has been picked as amongst the Best Shows of 2025 by Artlyst writer Paul Carey-Kent.
artlyst.com/critics-choice-best-uk-art-exhibitions-2025-artlyst
I am delighted that my monograph Running and Returning published by Kulturalis in 2025 has been picked by Art Writer Tabish Khan as one of his top reads this winter.
fadmagazine.com/2025/12/12/top-art-books-for-christmas
Coloured Plexiglass (various colours); mirror, American ash wood.
168cm (h) x 6cm (d) x 11cm (w)
The height of the work is the height of the artist.
These new wall-mounted sculptures are made of two simple, mirrored elements and use my signature ‘graft’ of materials: coloured plexiglass, mirror and wood. The title Hot Frame refers to the horticultural structures that are used to nurture and bring forth tender plants. The works are highly reactive and the ’empty’ space between the two elements becomes filled with colour through the action of light. The works are designed to be hung either tightly together or further apart and have connotations of threshold spaces such as window, door or picture frames.
15 November to 13 December
Curated by Debbie Meniru
In Hot Frame, Jyll Bradley returns to her 1980’s teenage bedroom, exploring queer identity, memory and her relationship to nature through photography and sculpture. Moving between light and shadow, interior and exterior, the exhibition reflects her long-standing interest in thresholds – both physical and emotional. Newly unveiled fluorescent sculptures –Hot Frames – appear alongside rediscovered self-portraits, creating portals that hover between visibility and invisibility, vulnerability and empowerment. The show also includes site specific flower arrangements made from foliage and blooms gathered by Bradley on her walks around Istanbul. These are presented as both an homage to the city and as ‘offerings’ to the photographic images of her much younger self.
I am delighted to be presenting my first solo show in Istanbul at Pi Artworks. Curated by Debbie Meniru.
JJ Charlesworth has reviewed my show at The Box for Art Review!
artreview.com/jyll-bradley-running-and-returning-the-box-plymouth