Theaster Gates - a Clay Sermon

This publication accompanies a major new exhibition of Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates (b.1973), focussing on his clay-based work, collaborative projects and large scale sculptures and installations since 2005. Gates's interdisciplinary practice draws on his training in both urban planning and pottery, resulting in work which aims to instigate the creation of cultural communities and the recirculation of art-world capital, all the time considering the notion of Black space and ideology. Featuring a new poem by Ben Okri, an interview with the artist by Edmund du Waal, and essays by Monica Miller and Georgia Haseldine, as well as complete installation photography of the exhibition and documentation of the artist's brand new film A Clay Sermon, this in-depth exploration of Gates's work is timely and relevant now in a world where a new generation are raising questions through making, identity and activism. 'A Clay Sermon' is part of 'A Question of Clay', a multi-institutional series in London by Theaster Gates exploring the labour and production of clay, and its collection through history: comprising of a two-year residency at the V&A, exhibitions at Whitechapel Gallery and White Cube, and culminating in 'Black Chapel', the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery.