The South London Gallery (SLG) will open a significant solo exhibition by Polish artist Monika Sosnowska this September, bringing some of her largest and most ambitious sculptural works to Peckham for the first time. Weight of Matter runs from 10 September to 22 November 2026, occupying both the gallery’s Victorian Main Gallery and the adjacent Fire Station building.
Sosnowska, born in 1972 in Ryki, Poland, has established an international reputation for large-scale sculptural works that engage directly with the materials and language of modernist architecture. Her practice centres on urban transformation — in particular, the political and social upheaval that accompanied the collapse of Communist rule in Poland and the architectural legacy that era left behind. Working predominantly with industrial materials such as steel, concrete and rebar, she creates forms that appear bent, collapsed or suspended between construction and ruin.
A Site-Specific Installation Across Two Historic Buildings
At the heart of the exhibition will be a monumental site-specific installation in the SLG’s Main Gallery, a Victorian space opened in 1891 and notable for its sweeping glass ceiling lantern and exposed structural beams. A grouping of large-scale works — some weighing in excess of half a tonne — will be suspended from those beams, forming what the gallery describes as a skeletal mass hanging like carcasses from the rafters. The juxtaposition of contemporary industrial sculpture with a 135-year-old building is deliberate: Sosnowska’s work is intended to appear as though it is testing the very structure that contains it.
Across the road, the Fire Station — a former working fire station dating to 1867, which the SLG converted and opened to the public in 2018 — provides a second venue equally rich in architectural history. In the old engine room, a sculpture modelled on a collapsed black metal staircase will be placed in direct visual dialogue with the building’s new white metal stairs, themselves inspired by the aesthetic of fire escapes. A neighbouring gallery, which overlooks an outdoor green space, will be transformed into what the gallery calls a concrete garden, filled with rebar sculptures evoking branches and falling trees. Upstairs, in rooms that once served as the firemen’s living quarters, painted steel works reminiscent of crumpled paper and peeling surfaces will recall the building’s derelict condition before its conversion.
Studio Maquettes Shown in London for the First Time
One of the more unusual aspects of the exhibition will be the inclusion of Sosnowska’s working models — intricate paper maquettes that she produces during the development of her large-scale pieces. Drawing on the architectural tradition of scale model-making, these small works are rarely seen outside the artist’s studio and have not previously been exhibited in London. Their inclusion offers visitors a rare insight into a practice that begins with delicate handcraft before arriving at sculptures weighing hundreds of kilograms.
Sosnowska trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań before completing postgraduate study at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam; she is now based in Warsaw. Her recent solo exhibitions include a presentation at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern in 2023 and shows at EMMA (Espoo Museum of Modern Art) in Finland and Galerie Gisela Capitain in Cologne, both in 2024. Her work is currently on display at the Princess Estelle Sculpture Park in Stockholm.
About the South London Gallery
Founded in the nineteenth century by philanthropist William Rossiter with the aim of bringing art to the people of south London, the SLG has grown into an internationally recognised contemporary art venue that remains free to enter. As well as its exhibition programme, the gallery runs a widely regarded Communities & Learning initiative encompassing artist-led projects on local housing estates, workshops for families, and a programme for looked-after children. The gallery is a registered charity and raises more than half of its income from external sources including trusts, foundations and individual donors.
Weight of Matter has received lead support from The Bukhman Foundation, with additional backing from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Henry Moore Foundation, and Latif & Company, among others. A press preview will take place on 9 September from 9:30am to 11am. The gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday at 65–67 Peckham Road, London SE5 8UH, with the Fire Station at 82 Peckham Road, London SE15 5LQ.
