Fashion, Art and the Body

Available for over a year

Wearing denim, workwear or sharp tailoring makes a statement about how we think of ourselves. Charlie Porter has been exploring the relationship between artists and clothes. He joins writer Olivia Laing and Ekow Eshun for a conversation about clothing, bodies and our expression of our sexuality hosted by Shahidha Bari. Olivia Laing's latest book is called Everybody: A Book about Freedom Charlie Porter has published What Artists Wear. A former Turner prize judge, he writes and curates and is a visiting lecturer on Fashion at the University of Westminster. British-Ghanaian photographer James Barnor's work is on show at the Serpentine Gallery in London from 19th May - 22nd October 2021. Ekow Eshun has curated An Infinity of Traces which runs at the Lisson Gallery in London from 13 April – 5 June 2021 featuring UK-based established and emerging Black artists whose work explores notions of race, history, being and belonging. Jade Montserrat, one of the artists featured in Ekow's show talked to Free Thinking in the programme we made about collage and Dada https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000k9ws Producer: Emma Wallace You can find more conversations in the Free Thinking archive and available to download as Arts & Ideas podcasts including Olivia Laing on her novel inspired by Kathy Acker and a discussion of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7mryz The body past and present discussed by painter Chantal Joffe, historian Catherine Fletcher and philosopher Heather Widdows https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7my7k Fashion stories in museums with guests including V&A curator Claire Wilcox https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s2by JJ Bola, Derek Owusu and Ben Lerner on The changing image of masculinity https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000b0mx How do we build a new masculinity ? Sunil Gupta, CN Lester, Tom Shakespeare and Alona Pardo https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gm6h The politics of fashion and drag with Scrumbly Koldewyn and a report from the Royal Vauxhall Tavern https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09zcjch Image Credit: Getty Images/Jonathan Knowles