Ten Artists to Watch in 2025

Ahmed Umar 

Based in Oslo, where he relocated from Sudan as a political refugee in 2008, Ahmed Umar earned a master’s degree from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2016. His work explores identity, religion and cultural values, often reflecting his experiences as a queer person from a Muslim background, through a diverse practice encompassing ceramics, jewellery and live performances that blends Sudanese and Western influences. In 2015, Umar publicly came out as gay, becoming a prominent figure for LGBTQ+ individuals from Muslim backgrounds in both Norway and Sudan. His journey is documented in the 2020 film The Art of Sin. He has forthcoming solo exhibitions at Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City, in February, and Stuttgart Art Museum in November. 

Arturo Kameya

Arturo Kameya is a Peruvian artist whose work delves into the narratives and myths shaping historical perspectives. He creates installations that interweave diverse cultural and historical references using acrylic, plaster, film and printmaking. His work often reflects his upbringing in Lima during the 1990s, exploring the complexities of urban environments and societal contradictions. Kameya has exhibited internationally, including at the New Museum Triennial, New York (2021), and the Busan Biennale (2022). In 2024, he was awarded the De Wolvecampprijs, a Dutch painting prize. He has solo exhibitions coming up at GRIMM, Amsterdam, in May and at CAP Centre d’Art Saint-Fons, Lyon, in December. 

Caspar Heinemann

Caspar Heinemann is a queer artist, writer and poet based in Glasgow. His practice encompasses sculpture, drawing, text, performance and theatre, critically engaging with themes such as the politics of land, occultism, folk revivalism and sexual countercultures. Heinemann often explores alternative interpretations of queer culture, emphasizing care, tenderness, desire and pleasure. He has had exhibitions at Cabinet Gallery, London (2022), and Édouard Montassut, Paris (2023). Heinemann’s research interests include critical mysticism and gay biosemiotics. A solo show of his work will open at London’s Studio Voltaire in May. 

Ebun Sodipo

Ebun Sodipo is a London-based artist whose interdisciplinary practice encompasses performance, film, sculpture and collage. Her work narrates the construction of a Black trans-feminine self in the aftermath of slavery and colonialism, aiming to create narratives for Black trans people of the future. Guided by Black feminist study, Sodipo employs collage and fabulation methodologies to explore themes of identity, desire and the body. Her work has been exhibited at Hauser & Wirth Somerset (2024) and V.O Curations, London (2023). In February, she has a forthcoming solo show at Soft Opening, London. 

JJJJJerome Ellis

JJJJJerome Ellis is an artist whose work spans music, performance, writing, video and photography. Identifying as a disabled Afro-Caribbean American and a person who stutters, Ellis transforms their speech dysfluency into a unique artistic expression. Their debut album, The Clearing (2021), explores the intersections of Blackness, disabled speech and time, inviting listeners into a metaphorical space of liberation. Ellis has presented work at both the Whitney Biennial (2024) and the Venice Biennale (2023). Their practice emphasizes vulnerability and connection, reframing stuttering as a gift that fosters more profound, patient listening. In February, they will perform at UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance in Los Angeles. 

Julia Isídrez

Julia Isídrez is a Paraguayan ceramist celebrated for her innovative approach to traditional Guaraní pottery. Under the mentorship of her mother, Juana Marta Rodas, Isídrez mastered ancestral ceramic techniques, infusing them with contemporary approaches. Her creations, from anthropomorphic vases to whimsical animal figures, reflect a harmonious blend of cultural heritage and personal expression. Isídrez’s work has appeared internationally, including at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. This spring, she will have a solo exhibition with Jessica Silverman Gallery in San Francisco.

Karim Boumjimar

Encompassing performance, drawing, ceramics, sculpture and installation, Karim Boumjimar’s practice often depicts queer individuals and narratives. The artist explores hybridization, co-evolution and solidarity among bodies and ecosystems. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, London, and Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, they have exhibited internationally, including the solo ‘Fluid Forms’ at Alice Folker Gallery in Copenhagen (2023), and regularly perform with Young Boy Dancing Group. In January, Boumjimar’s two-person show with Maria Metsalu, ‘Kultuur’, opens at TINA in London. 

Karimah Ashadu

Karimah Ashadu is a British-born Nigerian artist and filmmaker whose work explores the social, political and economic landscapes and diaspora of Nigeria, where she was raised. Initially trained in painting at the University of Reading, she later expanded into film and installation. Ashadu’s practice often examines labour and identity, as seen in her film Machine Boys (2024), which portrays motorcycle taxi riders in Lagos. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024, where she received the Silver Lion for Promising Young Participant. Ashadu lives and works between Hamburg and Lagos. Her solo exhibition at Camden Art Centre, London, will open in October. 

Lotus L. Kang 

Lotus L. Kang is a Canadian-Korean artist based in New York. Her artistic practice includes sculpture, installation, drawing and photography. Kang’s work explores the permeability of the body and the concept of ‘becoming’, often using materials such as light-sensitive film to create site-responsive installations that evolve over time. Among her notable works is In Cascades (2024), shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in which she draped tanned sheets of light-sensitive film over industrial steel structures, examining themes of transformation and ephemerality. She has shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2023), and Chisenhale Gallery, London (2023). In 2025, she will have a solo exhibition at 52 Walker, New York.

Heidi Lau

Renowned for her ceramic sculptures that explore themes of memory, mythology and the afterlife, New York-based Heidi Lau’s work often features hybrid structures that merge Western and Chinese architectural elements, reflecting her experiences growing up in a region influenced by both cultures. In 2021, she was the inaugural artist-in-residence at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, where she created works inspired by the site’s history and architecture. Her pieces have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Macao Museum of Art (2014) and the Bronx Museum of the Arts (2017). M+ Museum in Hong Kong recently announced Lau as one of six artists shortlisted for the Sigg Prize 2025. 

^{Main image: Ebun Sodipo, comfort begot by blood (detail), 2024, mylar, digital prints, resin, acrylic, 49 x 29 cm. Courtesy: the artist and Soft Opening, London; photography Eva Herzog}