Drawing attention
emerging artists in dialogue

These new acquisitions include works by some of the youngest living artists ever collected by the British Museum, presented alongside works by celebrated artists from Mary Delany and Edouard Manet, to Barbara Hepworth, Andy Warhol and Yinka Shonibare. The show will be touring venues around the UK from October 2023 to August 2024.

In this surprising and thought-provoking selection, emerging artists take the medium of drawing in new directions and use innovative approaches. A wide range of techniques and practices are represented, including drawings using make-up on face wipes by Sin Wai Kin and a drawing made with chalk collected from the White Cliffs of Dover by Josephine Baker. 

Artists show how drawing, often considered a quiet or private medium, can be used to challenge social norms, explore identity and protest injustice. Catherine Anyango Grünewald has described the time and labour invested in her monumental drawings as a 'direct homage' to their subjects, often the victims of institutional crimes. The painstaking detail of Irish artist Miriam de Búrca's drawings of clods of earth from cilliní – the unmarked graves of those deemed unfit for Christian burial – forces us to confront an uncomfortable history.

This tour has evolved from an exhibition at the British Museum, and each gallery will offer their unique take on the works. 

Supported by the Dorset Foundation in memory of Harry M Weinrebe.