27-Metre Indigo Cloth Fills London Church for Mongolian Artist's UK Debut
A 27-metre cloth dyed deep indigo hangs from the ceiling of a Gothic church in London.
The work is the centrepiece of You Who Sing Into Existence, the debut UK show by Mongolian artist Nomin Zezegmaa. It is installed at St Cyprian's church in Marylebone, London, and runs from 10 to 24 October, according to The Art Newspaper.
Zezegmaa was born in Germany and is based in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She is a multidisciplinary artist, working across textile, sculpture and sound. This is her first institutional presentation in Britain.
The exhibition is the first outing for Springboard, a new curatorial programme from the Bagri Foundation. The programme will give an Asian artist a first UK institutional show each year. The foundation itself was set up in 1990 to broaden awareness of Asian art and culture internationally.
It was curated by Chelsea Pettitt, director of the Bagri Foundation. The commission is site-specific, made to fit the church itself rather than moved in from a gallery. The building does much of the work. Stone, timber and stained glass frame everything the artist has added.
Visitors enter to find a monumental batik, cloth patterned with wax-resist dyeing, suspended overhead. The indigo piece follows Zezegmaa's residency in Indonesia earlier this year, where she worked with local dye techniques. It traverses the nave, the long central body of the church where the congregation sits, and runs almost the full length of the space.
It is flanked by floating copper sculptures. They hang in the air on either side of the textile, catching the light as people move beneath them. The pairing is textile and metal, soft and hard, dyed blue and burnished orange.
On the floor are silk rugs. Visitors are invited to lie down on them while a sound work plays through the church. The audio draws on Long Song, a Mongolian vocal form built on long, ornamented notes held and stretched by the singer. The instruction is simple. Look up. Listen. Stay a while.
The show is open Monday to Saturday, with a private view held on 9 October by RSVP, as listed by the foundation on TikTok. The public run closes on 24 October, giving audiences a two-week window to see it, as noted by Heni.
What makes this stand out is the combination. A London church. An Indonesian textile process. A Mongolian voice. Nothing sits behind glass. The fabric shifts in the air. The copper moves slightly too. The rugs turn looking into resting, and the building turns a short visit into a pause.
