Elephant #49

Elephant’s Autumn Winter 2022 issue intricately entwines past, present and future. Anthea Hamilton and Zadie Xa appear on our main release cover, alongside Xa’s Pekingese Don Grogu Fizzgigmo. The two artists embrace alternative forms of identity in a dynamic photoshoot with Izzy Leach, complete with red contact lenses, sharp wigs and body-morphing fashion. “I think that we’re both constructing ourselves,” Hamilton suggests, as they talk to each other about the politics of pop culture and the rich potential of self-mythology.

On our special release cover, Ming Smith is captured in a moment of bliss, photographed by Adama Jalloh at her studio in London. She shares the early experiences with photography that shaped her career in New York, focusing on the “poetry of everyday Black people” and the changing reception to her work. “You think you’re separated from the trauma, but it’s still very much alive within,” she muses.

Elephant is a quarterly contemporary art and visual culture magazine, founded in 2009, that features fresh faces and original voices, uncovering new trends and talent.