Fashion, Art, and the Body

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 FreedomCharlie Porter has published What Artists Wear. A former Turner prize judge, he writes and curates and is a visiting Fashion lecturer at the University of Westminster.British-Ghanaian photographer James Barnor's work is on show at the Serpentine Gallery in London from 19 May - 22 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 a programme about collage and Dada https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000k9wsProducer: Emma WallaceYou 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/b09zcjchImage Credit: Getty Images/Jonathan Knowles