Unyimeabasi Udoh's 'No Vehicles' Explores Signs, Gender, and Visibility at Alma Pearl

Unyimeabasi Udoh's solo exhibition 'No Vehicles' at Alma Pearl in London runs until 11 July 2026. The show takes its title from the road sign prohibiting vehicles, using it as a springboard to examine visibility, legibility, and absence. Five wall-based sculptures incorporate retroreflective glass beads that cause the works to shift with light, sometimes making the red border disappear. Other works include 'Contemplazione', a sign marking a locality in Messina, and 'Diversions', a series of prints that distort advertising languages found in London. Udoh highlights the gendered dimensions of road signage, noting that four of the five 'No Vehicles' works have feminine subtitles (Milkmaid, Sister, Siren, Maenad) and that the most prominent road sign designer, Margaret Calvert, is a woman. The exhibition also references Ellsworth Kelly's experience in the Ghost Army, where decoys were used to simulate military presence. Udoh's practice focuses on marginalia and the 'visible invisibles' that shape perception.