Senga Nengudi's Performance Works 1972-1982 Featured in Whitechapel Gallery Exhibition

Whitechapel Gallery in London is presenting an archival exhibition focused on Senga Nengudi's performance works created between 1972 and 1982. The show includes photographs, archival materials, and films documenting key pieces. Nengudi, born in Chicago in 1943 and raised in Los Angeles, was a pivotal figure in avant-garde Black art scenes in both Los Angeles and New York during the 1960s and 1970s. Her work blends sculpture, choreography, and performance, drawing from African, Asian, and Native American art forms. Influences include Fluxus, the Gutai group, Yoruba mythology, Japanese Noh theatre, and jazz improvisation. The exhibition highlights her seminal series R.S.V.P. (1976), which uses nylon tights filled with sand to create womb-like structures, exploring themes of gender, body image, and resilience. Photographs of Performance Piece (1977) and Performance with Inside Outside (1978) are also displayed, alongside the Spirit Flags series from early 1970s New York. A film of the collaborative work Air Propo (1982) features dancer Cheryl Banks Smith and musician Lawrence D. 'Butch' Morris. Nengudi was part of the Los Angeles collective Studio Z with artists like Maren Hassinger and David Hammons, and her work was presented at the New York gallery Just Above Midtown (JAM). The exhibition runs until June 14, 2026.