“This issue of CATALOGUE explores a simple but intractable question: how does it feel to live in Britain today? There’s no straightforward answer to that question, of course. But through the images and essays and poems assembled here by a panoply of extraordinary artists and writers, we might guess at something of the tone or texture of our times, alternately unsettled and melancholy, wistful and introspective.” – EKOW ESHUN

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
DEAN MAYO DAVIES

Shakespeare is everywhere: Stratford, on the syllabus, in fragments of our everyday conversation. Yet, despite the anthology of hits, his most important work is arguably an anonymous passage of text discovered to be the only surviving example of his physical handwriting, many years later. Passionate, poignant, and prescient, ‘The Strangers’ Case’ from Sir Thomas More is his monument, showing the spine and character of the man.

Ekow Eshun has taken inspiration from this for his curation of the tenth edition of the British Art Show, offering the subtitle ‘A Chorus of Strangers’ – which is also the title of this magazine. Opening in Coventry before travelling to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle Gateshead over two years, from October 2026 to June 2028, the exhibition contemplates Britain during a time of great manipulation, as received through the antennae of artists. As the country’s largest recurring contemporary art exhibition, British Art Show 10, produced by Hayward Gallery Touring, forms a key part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary national programme.

This magazine, inclusive of fabulous writers, is our companion underscoring a great belief that although Mayfair has been terra firma for over 100 years, Cork Street’s ethos can venture beyond W1 – as seen through our collaboration with the British Council as a Supporting Partner of The British Pavilion at the 61st edition of La Biennale di Venezia.

Meanwhile, our neighbours the Royal Academy are readying their November 2026 – March 2027 exhibition dedicated to Peggy Guggenheim, arriving from Venice before travelling to the Guggenheim in New York and completing the trifecta of cities that form the canvas of her life. Peggy Guggenheim became Peggy Guggenheim at Cork Street in 1938, opening her first gallery Guggenheim Jeune at Number 30, 2nd floor, with Marcel Duchamp her artistic advisor. 



In myriad ways, we are thinking about home.

Featured artists:

ALEX MARGO ARDEN
ANNA FREEMAN BENTLEY
CHRISTINA KIMEZE
EMMA MCNALLY
EMMA TALBOT
FRANCE-LISE MCGURN
GRAHAM LITTLE
HANNAH PERRY
JACK O’BRIEN
JASLEEN KAUR
JOY GERRARD
JULIANKNXX
KUDZANAI-VIOLET HWAMI
LINDSEY MENDICK
LIZ JOHNSON ARTUR
LOUISE GIOVANELLI
LUBNA CHOWDHARY
LUCY JONES
MAHTAB HUASSAIN
MATTHEW KRISHANU
MELANIE MANCHOT
MOHAMMED SAMI
MONSTER CHETWYND
NENGI OMUKU
OKIKI AKINFE
OSMAN YOUSEFZADA
PETER BLAKE
RAE-YEN SONG 宋 瑞 渊
SHIRAZ BAYJOO
UFUOMA ESSI
YAN WANG PRESTON
YINKA SHONIBARE

An exceptional collection of writing comes from Afua Hirsch, Charlotte Jansen, Emma Warren, and Sam Jacob. With poetry by Roger Robinson, and Raymond Antrobus.

CATALOGUE 9.0: A CHORUS OF STRANGERS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DEAN MAYO DAVIES
EXECUTIVE EDITOR GILLIAN MCVEY
ART DIRECTOR TOM HINGSTON
DESIGN HINGSTON STUDIO
OCTOBER 2026

A CHORUS OF STRANGERS CURATOR EKOW ESHUN

With special thanks to: Jūratė Gačionytė, and all the artists, their studios and their galleries