Thaddaeus Ropac Presents N. El-Sayegh's 'For Theresa' in London
On June 18, 2026, Thaddaeus Ropac announced the exhibition 'For Theresa' by artist N. El-Sayegh at its London gallery at 37 Dover Street. The show is loosely arranged into four sections, each governed by a different density, opening with El-Sayegh's signature Net-Grid canvases (2010–) and her new Grand Collection of World Art tableaux (2026). Walls are plastered with newspapers sourced from museum archives, antique book shops, and flea markets in Korea and elsewhere, creating an architectural surface recalling traditional Korean paper doors. The series draws on El-Sayegh's research into colonial and migrant histories in Korea, incorporating Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's 19th-century painting Grande Odalisque as a reference point for fantasies of the female form and the 'Orient.'
The Signal
The exhibition is strongest when it treats the archive not as a place where silenced histories are restored, but as a site where images continue to collide, adhere, shift, and accuse. El-Sayegh's work keeps these fragments in conversation without reconciliation, inviting multiple, even contradictory readings. For collectors and curators, the show reinforces the artist's critical engagement with materiality and political charge, demonstrating how visual pull can coexist with political weight without diluting either.
- Artists: N. El-Sayegh
- People: Jiwon Yu
- Galleries: Thaddaeus Ropac
- Locations: London
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