Kensington + Chelsea Art Trail launches in Knightsbridge

One Hooper’s Court, near Knightsbridge Underground Station, SW3 1ED.

Knightsbridge Partnership are delighted to reveal Josephine Chime’s incredible ‘Detangling the MBS’ sculpture, presented in partnership with The Knightsbridge Estate.

This temporary artwork is on display as part of Kensington + Chelsea Art Week’s annual Art Trail. The Art Trail is free to visit 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The curatorial theme for 2023 is ‘The Art of Change’ and their wide-reaching initiative includes Gallery Lates, a hop on-and-off Routemaster Art Trail Bus, a comprehensive talks programme, workshops, theatre performances, dancing, Poetry Corner, curated shop windows, and much more

This creative intervention forms part of our continued commitment to elevate Knightsbridge’s streetscape and provide imaginative opportunities to engage with culture in our district.

You can visit Josephine work from today, until Wednesday 30th August. It is located at One Hooper’s Court, near Knightsbridge Underground Station, SW3 1ED.

Scroll down for more information about Josephine’s artwork and practice.

Above (left to right): Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea, Councillor Preety Hudd and artist Josephine Chime with ‘Detangling the MBS’

‘Detangling the MBS’ is a mixed media sculpture in response to the confining narratives and contradicting messages of how women should present themselves. Chime’s practice delves into skewing the dominant notion of aesthetic goals, pulling from ancestral symbolic practices and pictographic messages to inform new female forms that transgress what is socially desirable.
Stuffed bulbous and warped forms reflect body parts; they are bound with rope on top of an engraved dark looming comb, speaking to the pressure to control the natural form and rhythms of the human vessel. The hair comb embodies myths and rituals of how proper mould and seek to tame what grows from their skin, in order to achieve an acceptable idea of beauty.
‘MBS’ stands for “mind, body and soul’. ‘Detangling the MBS’ is a call to service oneself, to create a flow of healthy self reflection which may enact change. ‘Detangling the MBS’ speaks of action; a constant action to become a version of yourself that can recognise the myriad of life’s offerings. Starting with the self to loosen the knots found in the heart, the muscles and psyche, it is a monumental step in feeling free from life’s expectations and societal constraints.
Josephine Chime’s practice delves into transgressing ideas of accepted beauty through the deconstruction of the body. The strong cord that connects her work is the visual analysis on the onslaught of female homogenous images and he technology shapes the vision and ideals of what is desirable.
“I see our skin holds the story of the body like etched hieroglyphics. Instead of silencing the story, my intention is to amplify it via intricate patterns, bold colours and textured shapes inspired by ancestral rituals and traditions.” – Josephine Chime
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