For the seven award-winning artists who make up Shapeshifters, that question is at the heart of their work. Each artist has come from a different path, but each has made a defining shift towards a life in art.
Shapeshifters is not about having a particular style or working in the same way. What connects the artists is the decision to transform, take a risk and create something new.
The collective's latest exhibition, Shapeshifters: Playing It Forwards, explores how artists are shaped by the people, places, experiences and ideas that have come before them β and how they reinterpret those influences and pass them on.
Bringing together painting, sculpture and printmaking, the exhibition celebrates seven very different approaches to making art. Rather than seeing culture as something fixed, the artists see it as something we inherit, question, change and pass on.
The idea of playing it forwards is about continuation rather than simply looking backwards. It is about taking what has shaped us and allowing it to evolve into something new.
There is also a strong sense of collaboration within Shapeshifters. The artists support, challenge and influence one another, creating a space for experimentation, expression and renewal.
Shapeshifters: Playing It Forwards brings together seven artists whose journeys into art have taken very different routes, but whose work demonstrates what can happen when you embrace change rather than resist it.
Meet the Artists
On Saturday 10 October, 3β6pm, all seven artists will be at the gallery for a special Meet the Artists afternoon.
Come along, see the exhibition, meet the artists and talk to us about the work and the ideas behind it.
Shapeshifters: Playing It Forwards
6β11 October 2026
The Corner Gallery
56 Dawes Road, London SW6 7EJ
Admission free
Everyone is welcome.
