ANIMA/ 01: Art exhibition curated by Maia Shelley Rakovic. 17 - 20 Sep 2026
ANIMA/ 01
Curated by Maia Shelley Rakovic, presented at Matt Ford Studio
Friday 18 - Sunday 20 September 2026
A pop-up exhibition exploring what it means to be an animal: instinct, appetite, sexuality, transformation, and the messy, uncontrollable body we all live in.
About the exhibition
Anima (n.) in Jungian psychology, an individual's true inner self, reflecting archetypal ideals of conduct; also, the inner feminine part of the male personality.
We love and fear the non-human animal in equal measure, just as we love and fear the uncontrollable animal of our own bodies: abject, sticky, large, furry, sharp, kinky, soft.
ANIMA/ brings together 22 emerging artists whose work grapples with our tangled relationship to animality: the creatures outside us, within us, and beside us. Rather than depicting animals as subjects, this exhibition treats animality as a method, a way of exploring the body, instinct, desire, and the limits of what it means to be human.
Expect a space of freedom and discomfort, where the human form is malleable, transcendent, bestial, trans, beautiful, and terrifying, all at once.
About the curator
ANIMA/ is a curatorial project founded and led by Maia Shelley Rakovic.
[PLACEHOLDER — a sentence or two on Maia's background/practice, if you'd like to include it]
Participating artists
Anna Billany, Phoebe Blaskett, Yunhee Chang, Saffron Ceramics, Isabel Coats Vergara, Julia Giles, Bibi Fox-Harris, Mia Hinds / Blue Corporeality, Scarlett Hope-Gates, Gabriel Klein, Jiyont Kym, Fazil Maniar, Alexander Pelouch, Laura Perdomo, Maia Shelley Rakovic, Amelia Rawlinson, Louise Richards, Christie Swallow, Alexander Tarasenko, Kate Youme, Tami Olga Zafeiropoulou, Lena Zinski
Details
📍 Arch 3.2, Hackney Downs Studios, Amhurst Terrace, London E8 2BT
🗓️ Friday 18th: 10:30am–7pm · Saturday 19th: 10:30am–7pm · Sunday 20th: 10:30am–2pm