Kang Seung Lee at South London Gallery: Free From 11 Dec

Kang Seung Lee’s first solo exhibition in the UK opens at the South London Gallery on Peckham Road on Friday 11 December, runs to Sunday 28 March 2027 and is free. Some of what is in it was gathered in Burgess Park, in Camberwell.

The show, called Weeds of Cultivation, fills both of the gallery’s buildings: the Main Gallery at 65-67 Peckham Road and the Fire Station across the road at number 82. The gallery says entry is free with no booking required.

What is in the show

Lee, who was born in Seoul in 1978 and is based in Los Angeles, makes work about queer artists and activists, many of whom died during the AIDS pandemic. The gallery’s press release says he “reimagines archival materials through acts of care and reinvention”, and that the exhibition “foregrounds the networks of kinship, activism and artistic work that have sustained queer communities in the face of significant stigma, discrimination and loss.”

In the Main Gallery he is showing what the gallery calls “a major site-responsive installation”, with new drawings and embroideries. The Fire Station galleries hold new and recent work with videos and archival material.

The starting point is London. The release names two British artists, Hamad Butt (1962-1994) and Derek Jarman (1942-1994), and says Lee has used items foraged from the gardens at Prospect Cottage, Jarman’s home, and at London Lighthouse, along with “local cruising sites including Hampstead Heath and Burgess Park.”

Lee has also made new drawings after Gideon Mendel’s photographic series The Ward (1993), which followed John, Steven, Ian and Andre, four patients on the dedicated AIDS wards at the Middlesex Hospital. Other works refer to the Fitzrovia Chapel, which stood at the heart of the hospital site before it was demolished.

The show also pays tribute to artists from further afield: the fashion designer Kaisik Wong (1950-1990) and the painter Martin Wong (1946-1999), both Chinese American, and the Brazilian artist José Leonilson (1957-1993). The gallery says all three were affected by the AIDS crisis and died from related complications.

Who made it

Lee studied at the California Institute of the Arts. According to the gallery, he has shown at the 60th Venice Biennale (2024), the New Museum Triennial (2021) and the Gwangju Biennale (2021), and has had solo shows at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (2024) and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul (2023). The picture at the top of this page is his installation at Venice.

The exhibition has been put together by the 11 fellows of New Curators, a paid year-long training programme in London for would-be curators from what the release calls “structurally disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds”. This year’s fellows come from the UK, the USA, Colombia, Ecuador, South Korea, India, South Africa and Australia. They are publishing a catalogue with a contribution from each of them, on sale in the gallery shop.

The release says the show is funded by Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Arts Management Service, the Samsung Foundation of Culture and The Ampersand Foundation, among others.

Visiting

• Dates: Friday 11 December 2026 to Sunday 28 March 2027
• Price: free, no booking. The gallery suggests a £5 donation.
• Opening hours: Wednesday 12pm to 9pm, Thursday to Sunday 12pm to 6pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
• Where: Main Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Road, SE5 8UH, and the Fire Station, 82 Peckham Road, SE15 5LQ
• BSL tour: Sunday 10 January 2027, 1pm to 2pm, free, listed on the exhibition page

What it means for you

If you are in Dulwich, Peckham or Camberwell, this is a free show of international standing on your doorstep, and the Wednesday late opening to 9pm makes it easy after work. The gallery has not yet published its holiday hours, so check its site before going between Christmas and New Year.

For another winter show nearby, see what is on at Dulwich Picture Gallery this winter.