The inaugural exhibition at Goodman Gallery London seeks to create a space in which to imagine possibilities for social repair.

I’ve grown roses in this garden of mine_ takes it’s title from South African artist Gabrielle Goliath’s latest work _This song is for…, a cycle of dedication songs chosen by survivors of rape, that evokes for audiences a sensory world of memory and feeling. This work sets the framework for a wider exploration of processes of healing from multiple geographies and generations.

The exhibition explores how varying approaches to exposing painful collective memories and experiences could initiate healing.

It is anchored by seminal works by major international artists Ghada Amer, El Anatsui, Broomberg & Chanarin, David Goldblatt, Alfredo Jaar, William Kentridge, Kapwani Kiwanga, Shirin Neshat, Ernesto Neto, Yinka Shonibare CBE, Carrie Mae Weems and Sue Williamson.

A new generation of international artists are introduced to UK and European audiences, including Kudzanai Chiurai, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Gabrielle Goliath, Haroon Gunn-Salie, Grada Kilomba, Misheck Masamvu, Mikhael Subotzky and Naama Tsabar. Many of these artists address post-colonial contexts by placing emphasis on personal experience and ‘alternative’ approaches to healing while rejecting the possibility of being cured.

I’ve grown roses in this garden of mine reflects Goodman Gallery’s long-standing commitment to artists whose practices confront entrenched power structures and champion social change.

My wounds will never ever heal completely, and I grow them (I have grown roses in this garden of mine). I care with much tenderness for this little corner of myself, because I know there is no cure, there are but ‘remedies’ taken in small doses to alleviate the symptoms of this silent wound.

A woman who chooses to withhold her name, in Gabrielle Goliath’s, _This song is for…_, 2019

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