LAUREN HALSEY

emajendat, the artist’s first solo exhibition in the UK, transforms Serpentine South Gallery into an immersive ‘Funk garden’ that responds to the building’s location in Kensington Gardens, offering an extension of the park into the galleries. Central to the exhibition is a life-size version of Halsey’s signature vignettes, usually seen in miniature within sculptures or as intricately arranged tableaux. Here, a prismatic floor and walls made from CD’s provide the setting for scaled-up figurines, funkmounds and a live water fountain. The artist’s first moving image work is presented alongside sand dunes and a bespoke wallpaper.

Halsey’s practice extends to Summaeverythang, a community centre she founded in 2019 that is ‘dedicated to the empowerment and transcendence of Black and Brown folks socio-politically, economically, intellectually and artistically.’ Her work offers a celebration of South Central’s vitality and a creative form of resistance to its evolving gentrification. Halsey approaches her gallery-based exhibitions and commissions as prototypes for one of her goals: creating a permanent sculpture park in South Central.