This autumn, the South London Gallery (SLG) presents Thrill, Fill, Spill a major solo exhibition by artist Yto Barrada.
Barrada’s multidisciplinary practice has long addressed micro-histories, borderlands, cultural phenomena, and strategies of resistance. This exhibition will span textile, film, sculpture, and painting, and feature new and previous works. The title calls back to the slightly formulaic landscape design motto of ‘Thrill, Fill and Spill’ – a technique to create drama, volume and cascading edges in designing planted areas – and perhaps also in gallery exhibitions
The exhibition will feature several new textile pieces which were dyed at The Mothership in Tangier, Morrocco, Barrada’s artist-led natural dyes centre, a residency space and eco-campus were artists, gardeners and creatives come to work and study. Tangier Island Wall (2019), shown for the first time in the UK, is a sculpture made of crab traps which references Tangier Island, located in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, USA. This island’s small community and their crab fishing livelihood is increasingly threatened by rising sea levels due to the climate crisis. Barrada’s porous “sea wall” of crab traps references the inhabitants’ wish for a seawall to protect the island – what the artist describes as a ‘beau geste’ – a noble act, but one that is ultimately futile.
Barrada is renowned for her commitment to building communities and fostering cultural exchange, as exemplified by having founded The Mothership and, in 2007, the Tangier Cinémathèque, North Africa’s first art house cinema and cultural centre.
The exhibition will embrace cultural exchange through an artist residency at The Mothership conducted by Emma Ogawa Todd. Following her residency Ogawa Todd will return to deliver workshops for young people as part of the SLG’s Communities and Learning Programme.
The exhibition is curated by Sarah Allen, Head of Programme, South London Gallery, in dialogue with the artist.
Date: 26 September 2025 - 11 January 2026
Free exhibition South London Gallery