Joy Gregory: The Art of Staying Connected

As Catching Flies with Honey, Joy Gregory’s first major UK retrospective, opens at Whitechapel Gallery, the celebrated British artist reflects on four decades of creative inquiry — and the enduring power of dialogue.

For Joy Gregory, art has always been a conversation. Not just between artist and audience, but between past and present, image and idea, silence and sound. Her retrospective, three years in the making, is less a look back than a reconnection — a weaving together of threads that span identity, race, gender, and politics.

“It’s quite amazing to see how things speak to each other,” Gregory says. “Often I move from one project to the next without looking back. But revisiting work from the ’80s or ’90s, I can clearly see how it relates to what’s happening now — and to what I’m creating today.”

On view until 19 January 2026, Catching Flies with Honey brings together over 250 works, including photography, film, installation, and textiles. It’s a lyrical, visually rich journey through Gregory’s evolving practice — one that has always been quietly political, deeply personal, and rooted in cultural memory.

The exhibition’s title, drawn from a proverb Gregory’s mother used to say — “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar” — encapsulates her approach: gentle yet incisive, poetic yet powerful. It’s a reminder that connection, not confrontation, often opens the deepest conversations.

In a world that feels increasingly fragmented, Gregory’s work invites us to listen more closely — to each other, to history, and to ourselves.