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Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility

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Photograph of four gallery visitors exploring a colourful exhibition space filled with artworks which center around a large sculpture of four vertical cupped hands.
Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility. Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. © Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

‘Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility’ reimagines a mental healthcare system that is equitable and supportive.

Through a network of sculptures, paintings, text-based work and sound, our new exhibition by Rudy Loewe centres the lived experience of Black people whose mental healthcare in the UK is shaped by racist discrimination. The works ask us to consider more hopeful, empathetic, alternative approaches to care.

In the exhibition is ‘Activation Sculpture’ – a large-scale sculptural commission with sound installations which activates during intimate live events and provides a space to reflect on healing and collective possibility.

Loewe is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice is shaped by resistance histories, African and Caribbean folklore, and a commitment to community and accessibility.

In developing the exhibition, Loewe collaborated with grassroots organisations that support Black people struggling to access appropriate and timely mental healthcare, including ADHD Babes, the Black Trans Foundation, and Black and Neurodiverse.

Also in Gallery 2: Audrey Amiss: The Surviving Exhibitions.

Exhibition highlights

Photographic diptych of a gallery visitor, on the left, looking at a large illuminated artwork showing a grid of 5 by 5 coloured squares with text written on the front. Some of the words read, 'Racism', CBT', 'Nothing', and 'Frustration'. The image on the right shows the reverse of the artwork which is identical except that the selection of words have changed.
Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility. The Search for Care / The Lack of Care. 2026. Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. © Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Entering the exhibition, you’ll find a colourful, double-sided light sculpture. Each cube lights up one at a time, and illuminates words related to mental health care. It’s one of many artworks drawing on workshops with members of ADHD Babes. One side of the sculpture represents what Loewe and their workshop participants have experienced when seeking care, and on the other side are the kinds of care they dream of.

Photograph of am information panel mounted on a gallery wall, showing text on the left introducing the exhibition and a tactile graphic symbol on the right.
Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility. Introduction. Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. © Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Throughout the exhibition are written invitations by Rudy Loewe encouraging people to resist the usual rules of a gallery. The first invitation is particularly for people who are usually anxious in these kinds of spaces. Each artwork is also accompanied by tactile symbols which you can touch, and invite us to feel something of the art that cannot otherwise be seen.

Photographic diptych of a gallery space. The image on top shows a visitor wearing headphones with their eyes closed and legs crossed, sitting inside a large green structure. The inside of the structure is bathed in warm red light. The image on the bottom shows two more visitors sat inside, one relaxing in the corner, legs outstretched on the the seating, the other sat gazing contemplatively into space.
Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility. The Space Within. 2026. Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. © Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Inside this dome is a chance to pause, rest and reflect, with the option to listen to meditative sound pieces. It was created to counteract feelings of being stranded or overwhelmed in central London, especially for disabled and neurodivergent people. Its shape is inspired by natural forms and traditional African architecture from Zululand, Namibia and Cameroon.

Photograph of a large orange and red painting featuring a smaller image of a figure surrounded by flame-like forms.
‘Rage’, Rudy Loewe, 2025–6, Commissioned by Wellcome Collection. ‘Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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This scene reflects the reality that Black people’s encounters with the police can escalate when someone in need of care is perceived as a threat. It sits within a larger canvas showing a giant flame with an expanse of red and orange paint. Loewe believes rage must be released from the body in order to heal.

Photograph of a hanging textile artwork showing several people gathered around a seated figure, sharing food, flowers and gestures of care.
Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility. It Takes a Community to Hold These Wounds. 2025-6. Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. © Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Hanging from the ceiling is a large textile artwork depicting five Black people gathered in a living room. It evokes the Caribbean practice of Nine Nights – a funeral custom in which family and friends gather for nine consecutive nights to celebrate and mourn the person who has died.

Photograph of a text-based artwork with poetry in gold lettering on a dark green background.
‘Intimacies of Care’, Rudy Loewe and Johnny Chang, 2026. ‘Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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In this exhibition, Loewe acknowledges the role of community in their practice, particularly their queer communities, disabled Black people and people of colour.

Photographic diptych of a gallery space. The image on top shows a visitor with their eyes closed, right ear pressed up against the side of a large sculpture made up of 4 vertical cupped hands. The image on the bottom shows a circular display case within the centre of the hands containing plant specimens, all bathed in a blue light.
Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility. Activation Sculpture. 2026. Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. © Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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In the middle of the exhibition space stands a monumental sculpture modelled on four clasped hands. If you’re visiting, we invite you to touch the sculpture and put your ear to it to listen: the voices coming from within are those of Loewe’s workshop participants. Inside are healing plants and a painting of the tinder fungus, as shown on the right.

Photograph of a person sitting down and taking a photograph of two large text-based artworks with bright pink lettering on a dark background, displayed in a gallery corner.
‘List of Demands’, Rudy Loewe, 2025–6, Commissioned by Wellcome Collection. ‘Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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This artwork features a call to action to change the current UK mental health care model. For Rudy Loewe, barriers within the mental health care system cannot be separated from wider issues that limit people’s access to support, such as cuts to disability benefits and migration laws. Our exhibitions have several seating options, including a chair that converts into a walking stick.

Photographic diptych showing a colourful oil painting on the left depicting two people where one is caring for the other. The image on the right shows the fingertips of a hand tracing the lines of a tactile graphic symbol on an information panel.
Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility. And Here We Found One Another. 2025-6. Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. © Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Rudy Loewe explores healing rooted in African and Caribbean ancestral and spiritual practices. This particular piece was inspired by a poem they found in our collection, in a 1990s newsletter called ‘Sisters of the Yam’, produced by the Black Women’s Mental Health Project.

Visit us

Free admission

Galleries open Tuesday–Sunday, Opening times

Gallery 2, level 1

Step-free access is available to all floors of the building

British Sign Language videos are available

Access resources include a visual story, large print guides and audio description

Access resources

Plan your visit

Exhibition visual story

This visual story provides images and information to help you plan and prepare for your visit to the exhibition.

When you're here

Resources designed to support your visit are available online and in the gallery.

Digital highlights tour
  • Find out more about the exhibition with our digital highlights tour, available in short audio clips with audio description and transcripts, or as BSL videos. It can be accessed on your own device, via handheld devices with tactile buttons, or on an iPad which you can borrow
  • Watch BSL video tour
  • Listen to audio tour with audio description
BSL, transcripts and induction loops
Audio description and visual access
Wheelchair and physical access
  • Step-free access is available to all floors of the building
  • We have a Changing Places toilet on level 0 and accessible toilets on all floors
Sensory access
  • A visual story with a sensory map is available online and in the building at the start of the exhibition
  • You can borrow tinted glasses, tinted visors, ear defenders and weighted lap pads. Please speak to a member of staff in the building
  • Weekday mornings are usually the quietest times to visit

Access information, tours and queries

Visit our accessibility page
access@wellcomecollection.org