Joshua Woolford is a transdisciplinary artist working between performance, painting, sculpture, sound, video, and installation. Woolford's work is rooted in extensive cultural research, drawing from literature, music, and art, as well as personal experiences of being a member of the queer Black Afro-Caribbean diaspora living in London.
Through their practice, Woolford acknowledges and confronts experiences of violence, aggression, and misalignment through abstract forms and sounds, verbal language and the body. They embrace reflection, transition and movement as powerful and disruptive states that actively challenge prevailing narratives.
By engaging with these themes, Woolford strives to dismantle established norms and provoke critical dialogue with others about the wider sociopolitical landscape. Ultimately forging a deeper understanding of their own identity and their hopes for the future.
Woolford graduated Cum Laude from the Design Academy Eindhoven (Media and Culture), and more recently with an MA from the Royal College of Art (Contemporary Art Practice). They are the 2023 Research and Interpretation Artist in Residence at Tate and a New Contemporaries 2023 Artist.
Notable exhibitions include live performances at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, as well as exhibiting and performing in multiple institutions across London, including HOME by Ronan Mckenzie, Soho House, Somerset House, Black Cultural Archives, the V&A and Tate Britain.
contact@joshwoolford.co.uk
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Clients / Commissions
Tate
Gucci
V&A
Talawa Theatre
Black Cultural Archives
Sainsbury Centre [Harold Offeh]
A---Z
LAS Berlin
TAWIAH
HOME by Ronan Mckenzie
Burberry
New Art Exchange
Healing Justice Ldn
Liberty Rose
Studio Seventy
LN-CC
Wai Kin Sin
BBZ
Serpentine Galleries
Mall Galleries
Prim.Black
UY Studio
Karma She
Konstnärskapet
Nuda
Van Abbemuseum
san mei gallery
LUX
Clients / Commissions
Tate
Gucci
V&A
Talawa Theatre
Black Cultural Archives
Sainsbury Centre [Harold Offeh]
A---Z
LAS Berlin
TAWIAH
HOME by Ronan Mckenzie
Burberry
New Art Exchange
Healing Justice Ldn
Liberty Rose
Studio Seventy
LN-CC
Wai Kin Sin
BBZ
Serpentine Galleries
Mall Galleries
Prim.Black
UY Studio
Karma She
Konstnärskapet
Nuda
Van Abbemuseum
san mei gallery
LUX
Exhibitions / Performances
2023 -
Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent / Live Durational Performance
Jewellers, Morecambe / Live Performance
New Contemporaries 2023. The Grundy, Blackpool / Video Piece
Drifts Festival 2023, Helsinki / Live Performance
Gucci, New Bond Street, London / Video Piece
Censored Pleasures & Closeted Desires. Fringe! x The Place, London / Live Performance Collaboration with Chadd Curry / Dahc Dermur
Always Coming Home curated by Anne Duffau (A---Z) at Iklectik, London / Live Performance
Tate Late: Desire, Culture and History. Tate Britain, London / Live Performance
Disagreements as Domains of Nausea and Elation. Austrian Cultural Forum, London / Live Performance
Queer & Now at Tate Britain, London / Live Performance & Soundscape
Peckham24 by Tom Lovelace at Copeland Park, London / Live Performance Collaboration with Anna-Lena Krause
You Make Me Feel by Anne Duffau (A---Z) at Somerset House, London / Live Performance
HOME x V&A Late, London / Live Durational Performance
The Takeover by Anticlone Gallery at Newington Green Meeting House, London / Sculptures and Live Performance
2022 -
Of Mythic Worlds by Harold Offeh at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich / Video and Sound piece
Transforming Legacies by Pacheanne Anderson at Black Cultural Archives, London / Painting and Live Performance
Alter/self by Anne Duffau (A---Z) at PAF, Olomouc / Video piece in collaboration with Ijeoma Uzoukwu
PRIM x NOW Later: It Started With We at NOW Gallery, London / Production, Lighting and Sound
Children of the Diasporas by Pacheanne Anderson - part of 1-54 Art Fair's 10th anniversary London Edition at Somerset House, London / Painting
The Diaspora by Anticlone Gallery at FARMTV/William Blake house, London / Painting
144 by Ijeoma Uzoukwu at Reference Point, London / Live performance
Art In* by Pacheanne Anderson, Produced by Brian Maina at Soho House White City, London / Installation and Live performance
Diasporas Now invited by Decolonise Art History at Gallerie V, Cambridge / Live performance
HOME by Ronan Mckenzie, London / Installation, video and live performance
2021 -
Play and the Post Peak by Jerome Ince-Mitchell at The Factory Project, London / Installation, video and live performance
Mōōvement by Ijeoma Uzoukwu at Harlesdon High School, London / Live performance
Diasporas Now, Online / Performance video with Ijeoma Uzoukwu
2020 -
Pending at san mei gallery, London / Sculpture
5hrs by Emily Moore at Sook Spaces, London / Performance video
Black History Online at Royal College of Art, London / Performance video
2017 - 2019 -
Name Drop by Jason Danino-Holt at Habait Theatre, Tel Aviv / Live Performance
Queering Session #5 by Olle Lundin at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven / Live Performance
2023 -
Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent / Live Durational Performance
Jewellers, Morecambe / Live Performance
New Contemporaries 2023. The Grundy, Blackpool / Video Piece
Drifts Festival 2023, Helsinki / Live Performance
Gucci, New Bond Street, London / Video Piece
Censored Pleasures & Closeted Desires. Fringe! x The Place, London / Live Performance Collaboration with Chadd Curry / Dahc Dermur
Always Coming Home curated by Anne Duffau (A---Z) at Iklectik, London / Live Performance
Tate Late: Desire, Culture and History. Tate Britain, London / Live Performance
Disagreements as Domains of Nausea and Elation. Austrian Cultural Forum, London / Live Performance
Queer & Now at Tate Britain, London / Live Performance & Soundscape
Peckham24 by Tom Lovelace at Copeland Park, London / Live Performance Collaboration with Anna-Lena Krause
You Make Me Feel by Anne Duffau (A---Z) at Somerset House, London / Live Performance
HOME x V&A Late, London / Live Durational Performance
The Takeover by Anticlone Gallery at Newington Green Meeting House, London / Sculptures and Live Performance
2022 -
Of Mythic Worlds by Harold Offeh at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich / Video and Sound piece
Transforming Legacies by Pacheanne Anderson at Black Cultural Archives, London / Painting and Live Performance
Alter/self by Anne Duffau (A---Z) at PAF, Olomouc / Video piece in collaboration with Ijeoma Uzoukwu
PRIM x NOW Later: It Started With We at NOW Gallery, London / Production, Lighting and Sound
Children of the Diasporas by Pacheanne Anderson - part of 1-54 Art Fair's 10th anniversary London Edition at Somerset House, London / Painting
The Diaspora by Anticlone Gallery at FARMTV/William Blake house, London / Painting
144 by Ijeoma Uzoukwu at Reference Point, London / Live performance
Art In* by Pacheanne Anderson, Produced by Brian Maina at Soho House White City, London / Installation and Live performance
Diasporas Now invited by Decolonise Art History at Gallerie V, Cambridge / Live performance
HOME by Ronan Mckenzie, London / Installation, video and live performance
2021 -
Play and the Post Peak by Jerome Ince-Mitchell at The Factory Project, London / Installation, video and live performance
Mōōvement by Ijeoma Uzoukwu at Harlesdon High School, London / Live performance
Diasporas Now, Online / Performance video with Ijeoma Uzoukwu
2020 -
Pending at san mei gallery, London / Sculpture
5hrs by Emily Moore at Sook Spaces, London / Performance video
Black History Online at Royal College of Art, London / Performance video
2017 - 2019 -
Name Drop by Jason Danino-Holt at Habait Theatre, Tel Aviv / Live Performance
Queering Session #5 by Olle Lundin at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven / Live Performance
Residencies and Awards
2023 Research & Interpretation Artist in Residence at Tate, London
New Contemporaries Artist, 2023
Workshops / Talks / Writing
Associate Lecturer on Design for Art Direction at UAL London College of Communication
Letter to my Little Queer Self - July 2021 / Writing comission
Phantasy Saturday School by EAST x 198 Contemporary - August 2020 / Lecturer
Apple Store, Covent Garden, London - January 2020 / Workshop leader
Links / features
‘London’s new art power list’ / ES Magazine
‘specialists + drybabe w/ josh woolford - 18.01.2023 - foundation fm’ / foundation fm music mix
‘CHILDREN OF THE DIASPORA: Where are we now?’ / Nataal article
‘Powered by Collectivity: Diasporas Now’ / Asia Art Pacific article
‘The alternative graduate show liberating black, queer artists’ / Dazed photography
2023 Research & Interpretation Artist in Residence at Tate, London
New Contemporaries Artist, 2023
Workshops / Talks / Writing
Associate Lecturer on Design for Art Direction at UAL London College of Communication
Letter to my Little Queer Self - July 2021 / Writing comission
Phantasy Saturday School by EAST x 198 Contemporary - August 2020 / Lecturer
Apple Store, Covent Garden, London - January 2020 / Workshop leader
Links / features
‘London’s new art power list’ / ES Magazine
‘specialists + drybabe w/ josh woolford - 18.01.2023 - foundation fm’ / foundation fm music mix
‘CHILDREN OF THE DIASPORA: Where are we now?’ / Nataal article
‘Powered by Collectivity: Diasporas Now’ / Asia Art Pacific article
‘The alternative graduate show liberating black, queer artists’ / Dazed photography