Rudy Loewe was born in London in 1987. They are a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores histories of resistance and African and Caribbean spiritual practices. They also focus on inequalities, as in the UK, Black people voluntarily accessing mental health support are more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act.
Loewe explored the Wellcome Collection’s archive and found that Black people’s lived experiences were underrepresented. That’s why the exhibition is called ‘Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility’.
Loewe held workshops focused on experiences of accessing mental healthcare, naming the grief caused by unmet needs, and imagining more generous forms of care rooted in spiritual and community-led practices.
Workshop participants were from ADHD Babes, a support group for women and non-binary people of African-Caribbean descent with ADHD. Their stories are weaved throughout the exhibition.
This is Loewe’s first time working in large-scale multimedia sculpture. They have created spaces for participation, rest and reflection, inviting us to collectively reimagine what care could be.
Each stop contains a description of the relevant artwork and an ‘invitation’ from the artist. It is accompanied by tactile elements made with designer Johnny Chang.
Take a moment to reflect and understand.
An invitation from artist Rudy Loewe
This is a space to hold Black people’s care, healing the lack of care that has been given to Black people in other spaces. It’s a space to hold our grief, rage, joy and the complex web of emotions that might come up from this. This exhibition resists the traditional rules of being in a gallery. This exhibition was created on ‘disabled time’, working flexibly to suit disabled bodies and minds.
This is an invitation to those who are usually anxious to pass over the threshold of a gallery to reimagine what this space might be.
This is a space that prioritises responding to the artwork and its themes genuinely and to respond to each other with care. This is a space for emotive holding, where you can take the time you need to move through the space.