Whitewall’s Best of 2023—A Year in Covers
As the year comes to a close, Whitewall is reflecting on the best of 2023 by celebrating four seasons in cover features. Join us in a look back on the artists, architects, designers, and creatives that have brightened our publication.
William Kentridge, “The Shrapnel in the Wood,” 2015, India ink on found pages, 210 x 220 cm, courtesy of Joseph and Meg Koerner and William Kentridge Studio.
Diane Dal-Pra, “The Hours After,” 2022, “Oil on linen, 71 5/8 x 57 1/2 inches, photo by Gregory Copitet, courtesy of the artist & Galerie Derouillon, Paris.
Thandiwe Muriu, “Camo 48,” © Thandiwe Muriu.
Photo of Shepard Fairey by Mike Allen.
Best of 2023: Winter 2023 Experience Issue Covers
We kicked off the year with not one, not two, not three, but four fantastic covers, recognizing the artist’s ability to change the way we see and interact with the world around us. For the legendary William Kentridge, it’s all about process. He savors what happens in the studio, the unexpected, the idea you didn’t think was the one. With Diane Dal-Pra, she was able to render the feeling of the moments in between, so vital to our life and domestic space, but rarely paid attention to. Thandiwe Muriu’s photographs burst with energy, color, pattern, and point of view. They are a celebration of culture, fashion, youth, and style. And finally, Shepard Fairey’s politically charged new works feel as urgent as ever.
Antonio Obá, “Variação sobre Sankofa – Quem toma as rédeas abre caminhos (Variation on Sankofa – Whosoever takes the reins opens the paths),” 2021, oil on canvas, 27 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, photo by Bruno Leão, courtesy of the artist and Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brussels and New York.
Photo by Fernando Laszlo, courtesy of Estudio Campana.
The Spring 2023 Latin America Issue Covers
For our annual Art Issue, we turned our focus to the incredibly vibrant contemporary art and design scene of Latin America and its vast diaspora. We cast our net wide, with full awareness that what follows is a small representation of the Latinx story, experience, and creativity. One theme that kept coming up was dreams—especially in the oneiric depictions by cover artist Antonio Obá. The artist has an overwhelming sense of self and a palpable connection to his own spirituality, which bleeds into his creative process and output. And our hearts were touched when speaking with our other cover star, Humberto Campana, who lost his brother Fernando late last year. The two had been working and designing together for decades, and, bittersweetly, their last show brought them back home, working in the clay of the remote town where they grew up watching movies and building their own imaginative sets. Humberto gave us an early look at Parque Campana, a new project of pavilions that offer a contemplative respite for peace, quiet, and solitude.
View of the main entrance of the Hermès Workshops, Louviers, Normandy, France, Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture, photo Iwan Baan, © Hermès, 2023.
Procuratie Vecchie, photo courtesy of Alberto Parise, courtesy of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Ernesto Neto, installation view, “SunForceOceanLife,” 2020, crocheted textile and plastic balls, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund; © 2020 Ernesto Neto, photo by Albert Sanchez, courtesy of the artist, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel Galeria, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Best of 2023: Spring 2023 Impact Issue Covers
Each summer, our Impact Issue focuses on design, through the lens of sustainability and social responsibility. One of the issue’s cover stories, David Chipperfield, was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize just before our interview with him took place. He took the momentous occasion to stress the need for architecture to address environmental impact and social inequality. Then Lina Ghotmeh, whose work À table was experienced last summer in London for the 2023 Serpentine Pavilion, spoke to us for the cover about the future of architecture. She anchors her Paris-based practice between us and nature, past and future. And for our third cover was artist Ernesto Neto, whose massive, immersive installations act as offerings to both nature and humanity. Transcendental and spiritual, they are handcrafted with a crochet technique the artist turned to in his studio in order to greater connect to the energies within us.
María Berrío, “Las Hijas de la Montaña (Children of the Mountain),” 2023, collage with Japanese papers and watercolor paint on linen, 130 x 80 inches, © María Berrío, photo by Bruce White, courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro.
The Fall 2023 Harmony Issue Cover
This September we hit the ground running with new editions of fairs in New York, London, and Paris, and of course, fashion month. So we made sure to help you (and ourselves) find a little moment of Zen with this second edition of the Harmony Issue. On our cover was the spellbinding work of artist María Berrío. Her paintings combine the ordinary with the mythic. Her recent exhibition “The Children’s Crusade” at the ICA Boston was like seeing through a child’s eyes—with the innocent and imagined bumping up against the stark realities of life. Infused in all her pieces is a sense of both wonder and hope.
