Tate Announces the Artists Getting Solo Shows in 2025

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The 2025 programme launches in February at Tate Modern with a show dedicated to the convention-defying Leigh Bowery. Emerging from London’s 1980s club scene, Bowery was known for his outrageous performances, influencing creatives from Jeffrey Gibson to Alexander McQueen and Lady Gaga.

Progressing into the hot summer months, Tate Modern will open solo shows dedicated to Do Ho Suh and Emily Kame Kngwarreye.

Born in 1962 in Seoul, Suh is a contemporary artist with a well-earned international reputation who has shown in numerous institutions. It will be interesting to see what the Tate’s curators bring to this. His show, opening on 1 May, will include immersive fabric installations, life-size replicas of his past homes, videos, and delicate works on paper.

In contrast to Suh, Emily Kame Kngwarreye is less well-known despite being one of Australia’s most highly acclaimed artists. Her show will be the first major institutional survey dedicated to the artist in the Northern Hemisphere. It is expected to include works created in the 1970s and 80s—many of which have never been shown outside of Australia—reflecting on the artist’s extraordinary life as a senior Anmatyerr woman from the Utopia region (northeast of Mparntwe/Alice Springs) of Australia.

Across the river, at Tate Britain, Ed Atkin‘s work will take centre stage in a career-spanning exhibition that includes paintings, writing, embroideries, and drawings alongside moving-image works. The museum will also dedicate solo exhibitions to three artists associated with Surrealism: Edward Burra, Ithell Colquhoun, and the photographer Lee Miller.

Miller’s exhibition is expected to include over 250 images of the acclaimed fashion and war photographer, who this year is also the subject of Lee (2024), a feature film starring Kate Winslet.

Next spring, Colquhoun, a British female artist who made work during the 1930s and 40s, will also be the subject of a solo show at Tate St Ives. This exhibition follows Małgorzata Mirga-Tas’s eponymous exhibition, which will open from October 2024 to January 2025.

Other artists to receive career-spanning exhibitions at Tate St Ives as the year progresses include Liliane Lijn and Emilija Škarnulytė.

Tate Liverpool will host the Liverpool Biennial from 7 June to 14 September 2025. —[O]

Main image: Emily Kam Kngwarray, Ntang Dreaming (1989) (detail). National Gallery of Australia. © Estate of Emily Kam Kngwarray / DACS 2024, All rights reserved.