Join us for a conversation with artist Lorna Simpson and curator Zoé Whitley in celebration of the exhibition ‘Lorna Simpson. Previous & Ongoing’ at Hauser & Wirth London.

This fall, Lorna Simpson will return to the UK for the first time in eight years with an exhibition of new works in London that reveal the symbiotic relationship between her paintings, collages and wider oeuvre.

• 9.30 am: Exhibition private view

• 10 am: Talk begins

• 11 am: Talk ends

Tickets are free, however advance booking is essential and late arrivals will not be admitted. Please note that seats will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

The exhibition is on view from Tuesday 13 October – Saturday 23 December 2026.

About Lorna Simpson 
Coming to prominence in the 1990s for her pioneering approach to conceptual photography, Lorna Simpson’s masterful paintings have become a defining facet of her creative output following her turn to the medium in 2014. From multi-panel compositions and large-scale paintings to sculpture, the works on view are anchored by the artist’s sustained engagement with found defunct photographic news archive photography, particularly from Ebony Magazine. Treating these fragments of the past as carriers of memory, she sources, reconfigures and reproduces archival material to both reveal how histories persist and accrue new meaning over time.

Simpson continues to probe these questions while expanding her practice to encompass various media including film, painting, collage and sculpture. Her recent works incorporate appropriated imagery from vintage Jet and Ebony magazines, found photo booth images, and discarded Associated Press photos of natural elements— particularly ice, a motif that appears in her sculptural work in the form of glistening blocks made of glass. Layered and multivalent, Simpson’s practice deploys metaphor, metonymy and formal prowess to offer a potent response to American life today.

About Zoé Whitley
Dr Zoé Whitley OBE is Director of Chisenhale Gallery in London, UK, which champions the next generation of artists through producing era-defining new commissions. She co-curated the acclaimed Tate Modern exhibition ‘Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,’ and its subsequent international tour (2017 – 2020). Whitley has distinguished herself as a curator working in leading UK institutions, such as the British Council’s curator of the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Italy (2019); Tate Modern, London, UK (2014 – 2019); Tate Britain (2013 – 2015); V&A, London, UK (2003 –2013).

She established Chisenhale Books, has authored the children’s titles ‘Meet the Artist: Frank Bowling’ (2019); ‘Meet the Artist: Sophie Taeuber-Arp’ (2021); and served as a consultant for the award-winning young adult reader ‘Black Artists Shaping the World,’ published by Thames & Hudson (2021). She has recently edited the monograph ‘solid!’ by Barkley L. Hendricks,’ published by Skira (2024).

Whitley is a member of the London Mayor’s Commission on Diversity in the Public Realm. She is a Trustee of the Teiger Foundation and Sir John Soane’s Museum.

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Photographs will be taken at this event for use on the Hauser & Wirth website, social media and in other marketing materials.