Shaniqwa Jarvis debuts UK solo show exploring grief and memory through photography and textiles

Public Gallery in London will present Shaniqwa Jarvis's first UK solo exhibition, 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart,' from 30 April to 7 June 2026. The New York-born, Los Angeles-based artist will show twelve new works employing photography, silk, mirrored surfaces, aluminium, and collage. These pieces examine themes of grief, memory, renewal, and transformation, moving beyond traditional photographic flatness to incorporate weight, texture, and viewer interaction. Central installations feature silk works suspended before mirrors, creating shifting double exposures with floral motifs that suggest persistence. Collage works combine C-prints and aluminium prints to challenge notions of photographic finality. The exhibition culminates in a moving image work weaving personal archival footage with recent video and audio on topics like health, New York City, and motherhood. Several pieces reference Jarvis's childhood bedroom as a site of early memory formation. Concurrently, her second book, 'GUTS,' will be published by Super Labo with an introduction by curator Essence Harden, launching at Climax Books in London on 6 May 2026. Jarvis is known for emotionally charged portraiture and an interdisciplinary practice spanning photography, textiles, painting, and collage. Her work has been exhibited internationally in London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York, and is held in the collections of LACMA, MOCA, and the Hammer Museum.