Over the last three decades, Hew Locke has taken weighty subjects such as migration, empire, global economics and the monarchy and complicated how we look at them. In the Souvenir series (2018–), for instance, he festoons busts of Victorian and Edwardian royals with gewgaws, pointing up the absurdity of the trappings of royalty while also acknowledging their allure. Nuance notwithstanding, much of his work derives its power from its directness: Armada (2019), one of his many installations of small boats, illustrates the notion that ‘today’s refugee is tomorrow’s citizen’. While Locke’s art is especially resonant in Britain, this retrospective at the Yale Center for British Art, which spans his entire career, reminds us that the work has much wider relevance (2 October–11 January 2026).
Find out more from the Yale Center for British Art’s website.
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