Zadie Xa: House Gods, Animal Guides and Five Ways 2 Forgiveness

In Zadie Xa’s exhibition “House Gods, Animal Guides and Five Ways 2 Forgiveness,” the artist welcomes viewers into a sort of dreamscape, where her multifaceted practice and Korean heritage, folklore, and history have informed a space connecting the present moment with spirits of the past. Presented with support from Dior and the Whitechapel Gallery Commissioning Council, the installation at Whitechapel Gallery (open through April 30, 2023) was made in collaboration with the artist Benito Mayor Vallejo, who helped Xa imagine a space inspired by the traditional Korean home called a “hanok”. Within this wooden structure, the artist presents various works that can be traced back to Korean traditions like a patchwork of fabric alluding to traditional “bojagi,” a textile that represents the shamanic deity Princes Bari or Bari Gongju, who leads souls out of the living world after death, and a series of other paintings, sculptures, masks, and marionettes—many of which feature different species of animals, linked to Xa’s recurring use of animals as avatars.