Black Mirror: an exploration of art’s role in social satire

Featuring the work of 26 contemporary artists, using a range of media including collage, caricatures, photography and installation, the exhibition shows how satire can provide both light relief as well as unsettling commentary on the tumultuous, divisive climate of modern-day politics.

Works vary from the personal to the political, including Bedwyr Williams’ humorous take on the old adage “Walk a Mile in My Shoes”, where he literally gets visitors to try on size 13 shoes, Turner Prize nominee Richard Billingham’s confrontational photography of his working class parents in his Ray’s A Laugh Series, Chilean sculptor Alejandra Prieto, who explores the poverty and luxury of industry by transforming rejected lumps of coal into beautiful objects, and Jessica Craig-Martin’s voyeuristic and candid close-up photographs of high society hedonism.

At a time of collective unease, Black Mirror emphasises the importance of art and satire in dissecting power structures, questioning societal norms, and visualising political unrest, providing light relief to life’s uncertainties.

Black Mirror will be on view at Saatchi Gallery from 28 September until 13 January 2019.