Tracey Emin, Katharina Grosse, And More Rally To Raise $2.7 Million For South London Gallery

A leaky Victorian roof is not usually the starting point for an art-world partnership, but it is at the center of one here. Christie's London will host a special selling exhibition of donated works to support the South London Gallery's SLG Forever campaign, which aims to raise £2 million ($2.7 million) for the institution's future.

The exhibition brings together work by 28 artists, including Tracey Emin, Frank Bowling, Katharina Grosse, Alvaro Barrington, Ryan Gander, Firelei Báez, and the late Pope.L. It opens to the public at Christie's London from June 5–25, 2026, with extended hours during London Gallery Weekend, June 5–7, before continuing online through September 30, 2026.

For the South London Gallery, founded in 1891, the campaign is about more than emergency repairs. The funds will help address the condition of its historic building, support exhibition programming, commission new works, and sustain its communities and learning program. Director Margot Heller said the response from participating artists was“fantastic,” and linked that enthusiasm to the gallery's deep roots in Peckham and southeast London.

That local connection is visible in the roster. Several artists have studios nearby, including Bowling, Allison Katz, and Raqib Shaw. Emin's contribution carries its own institutional history: she had her first institutional solo show in London at SLG in 1997 and is now the subject of a major career survey at Tate Modern. Báez, who had her first U.K. solo exhibition at SLG in 2024, recently opened a large solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth in New York. Barrington, who serves on the museum's board of trustees, has also donated a canvas.

The exhibition includes a light box by Pope.L, whose final exhibition was held at SLG in 2023, underscoring the gallery's long role as a site for ambitious contemporary practice. Heller said the Christie's Private Sales collaboration will put the institution in“a much more stable position” and allow for long-term planning.

That stability matters for an organization that has remained free and open to the public since its founding. As Heller put it, that commitment is part of the gallery's DNA - and one the board intends to preserve. Once the selling exhibition concludes, repairing the building will be a top priority, alongside the broader work of keeping the gallery active as a place for exhibitions, commissions, and public learning.

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