Looking for unique art or gifts this Christmas? Shop independently at the South London Gallery Bookshop! All proceeds from sales directly support the South London Gallery, helping to keep the gallery and its activities free and accessible to all.
Order online by 12 Dec 2024 to be guaranteed delivery before Christmas.
The SLG Bookshop team have put together a list of their recommendations of books, gifts and art for your family, friends and loved ones. Take a look…
A Few Rules for Predicting the Future – Octavia E. Butler – £10.99
The perfect gift for anyone feeling depressed about the world right now.
Written by pioneering Afrofuturist author, Octavia E. Butler, this essay delivers honest and inspiring advice on how we might face the forces of fascism, unpredictability, and the illusive effects of fear. Illustrated by the cosmic artwork of Manzel Bowman.
The Living Mountain – Nan Shephard (special edition) – £14.99
The Living Mountain is inspired by Taoism and Nan Shephard’s lived experience in the Cairngorms in Scotland. Shephard wrote the book in the 1940s, although her writing is so clearheaded and perceptive, it feels timeless.
She writes about mountaineering not as an act of dominance but a process of knowing. In all seasons, and all kinds of weather, she strikes out alone and with others to walk, sleep, eat and watch the vast and treacherous landscape, and all the living creatures that thrive in its wilderness. This book could be considered as poetry, philosophy, or simply a treaty to the power of observation. For the walkers and thinkers in your life.
The African Gaze: Photography, Cinema and Power – Amy Sall – £45
Amy Sall, author, researcher, and archivist, redefines the narrative of African visual culture with The African Gaze – a groundbreaking exploration of African cinema and photography that boldly moves beyond the confines of the colonial lens. Through meticulous research, access to rare visual archives, and deeply personal interviews, Sall brings to life the rich legacies of African filmmakers and photographers.
It celebrates the diversity of African storytelling, revealing a shared commitment to capturing the vibrancy and realities of African life and culture. The African Gaze is more than a book; it’s an essential tribute to African artistry – a powerful introduction to the traditions, images, and voices shaping a continent’s visual identity. A perfect gift for art lovers, cinephiles, and anyone seeking to understand the depth and breadth of African visual traditions.
Shibori Bag – House of Shokunin – £24.99
Shibori, a traditional Japanese tie-dying technique, gives this bag its unique form by folding, plucking and twisting the cloth into 3-dimensional shapes before compressing the bag to dye.
The ones found in the SLG Bookshop, are handmade by small group of artisans in Japan using a “Kumo” pattern, which means Spider. Their geometric patterns stretch out, so that this spikey little bag expands to fit an A4 sized book. The perfect bag for a beloved book lover!
The Illustrator’s Cookbook – Jumbo Press – £30
Jumbo Press is a really lovely project and press that started life in Deptford before re-settling in Barcelona.
They work with many wonderful emerging illustrators, and here they have asked 36 of those to share a recipe for breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert – some for your cat, some for you – each in their own, inimitable style. This is a picture book, a book for planning meals for friends and, in many ways, a celebration of the joy of sharing everyday pleasures and stories in fantastical ways.
This is a limited one-off publication, made from recycled paper and Riso printed and hand sewn in Barcelona. Stickers and shopping list included!
Hasami Season01 Block Mugs – £23 each
Dishwasher safe and durable, these bright mugs are inspired by American diners of the ’50s and ’60s. We have six different colours allowing you to mix and match. Create your own set, which can be stacked like toy blocks.
Thank you for Everything – Nell Osborne – £10
Some poems think more about poetry than others. This pamphlet, by Nell Osborne, engages fantastically with form, without any foray into academic braying or didactic decree. It’s fun, funny, sharp and light on its toes as it twirls in front of the mirror in one coat after another. Give it to someone who loves words in a weird way.
And – if you have ever picked up a poetry pamphlet and thought the finish wasn’t quite as attentive to the quality of the writing as you’d hoped, it was not from Monitor Books: every one is beautifully set, printed and finished.
My Lesbian Novel – Renee Gladman – £15.99
My Lesbian Novel hinges around an interview between the narrator, who resembles the real-life writer and visual artist Renee Gladman, and an unnamed person. Incorporating sections of the novel as it develops over time, Gladman embraces interruptions and tangents that dig into philosophical territory. Laugh-out-loud lines (‘She’s progressive. But she isn’t queer the way so many straight people are queer these days’) are integral to the book, pitching Gladman firmly within the company of the writers she namechecks along the way, those ‘thinking about language and experience and time and memory and relation and doing so in alchemy with language.’
Homework’s Fire Candle – £32
Homework’s handmade candles pay homage to ancient Chinese philosophy, celebrating heritage, balance and nature through fragrance. Using Traditional Chinese Medicine the company’s mission is to inspire people to live more in line with their bodies, the world around them and the seasons.
We think their Fire candle is the perfect gift. Using elements of lingering citrus fruit, clove and wood smoke over a base of sandalwood, amber and Chinese cedar, the scent is inspired by paper offerings burnt in honour of ancestors, and ‘incense burning in the fading light’.
Hanuman Editions Chapbooks – £11.99
Reimagining the legacy of Hanuman Books, a publishing project out of the storied Chelsea Hotel in the late 80s in New York, Hanuman Editions channels the playful kitsch of the original series while considering what the avant-garde means in 2024.
They keep their pocket-sized format, and the writers published so far are familiar favourites found on the SLG Bookshop shelves; Eileen Myles, Cookie Mueller and Dodie Bellamy.
En Root’s Raja Bonnet Sauce – £8
‘A South London creation of international inspiration’ says the bottle. The people behind the celebrated local restaurant, En Root, combine their South East Asian heritage and their South London upbringing to create these hot sauces.
Starting out on the tables of their vegetarian restaurants, it is now bottled and comes in three flavours: Original, with scotch bonnet, kesar mango and Gujarati spices; Fyah Fyah, for more of that but with double the heat; and Lime & Ginger Kicker, for less heat and more added aromatics. These are locally made, prize winning meal upgraders.
Pope.L was one of the foremost creators of political conceptual art in the United States. In one of his best-known performances, Crawl, wearing a business suit or a Superman costume, he got on his hands and knees and crawled through New York’s streets for miles. Challenging bystanders to look down and actually see him, he used his body to expose inequalities and power differentials in society. Devising a practice with deep roots in philosophy and the theater, Pope.L from the 1970s onward produced seminal works exploring questions of language, gender, racism, and community.
Hospital documents Pope.L’s 2023 exhibition at the South London Gallery, which tragically turned out to be the last in his lifetime. With an essay by Legacy Russell, an introduction by Margot Heller, and an interview with the artist by Judith Wilkinson.
Hoda Afshar, Untitled 7, 2024 – £450
Artist Hoda Afshar, known for her prize-winning portraiture, produced Untitled 7 as a limited edition for the SLG in October 2024.
Shown initially as part of the In Turn series for Acts of Resistance: Photography, Feminisms and the Art of Protest, the powerful image depicts a woman with braids releasing two doves into the air. Her braided her is a direct nod towards the women in Iran defiantly discarding the veil, and to a practice common among Kurdish female fighters who plait each other’s hair before heading into battle.
This important and beautiful photograph is worth having in any collection. Limited edition of just 25.
SLG Gift Membership – From £55
SLG Membership is the perfect gift for the art lover in your life! Members enjoy a year of exclusive events, discounted tickets as well as 10% off in our café and shop. Every membership supports the SLG’s ambition for contemporary art to be accessible to all. The Gift Membership includes a Nairy Baghramian: Jumbled Alphabet tote bag, SLG postcards, a flat pack Fire Station and Acts of Resistance matches.
Shopping online? Make sure to order before 12 Dec 2024 to guarantee delivery before Christmas.
(P.S, you can get 10% off your first online order by signing up to our email list!)