Surface Reflections
Curator: Alisa Lisovskay
Location: Somerset House, London, UK
Exhibition dares: 04.06.-29.06. 2025
The2025 edition's theme ‘Surface Reflections’ by Artistic Director Dr Samuel Ross MBE, explored how ideas are fuelled by both our internal experiences and external influences. Revelations in life are prompted by personal histories that inform who we are. Together, these form the multifaceted hues of human experience.
The Silk Road Pop-Up — a curated retail and cultural experience that bridges centuries of Silk Road heritage with contemporary creativity. Curated by art producer Alisa Lisovskaia, the booth installation is a vivid celebration of independent design, cultural memory, and storytelling through craftsmanship.
Designed by ARC Architects, the pavilion itself embodies the flow and fluidity of the ancient trade routes. With soft contours and warm textures, it becomes a space shaped by memory and movement — a modern Silk Road in form and feeling.
At the heart of the installation lies a powerful artwork by Uzbekistan-born, London-based artist Zulfiya Spowart, whabstract sculptural form conjures a dynamic battle between a dragon and a horse-riding hero.
Inspired by Persian miniatures, Spowart reinterprets these motifs through the lens of corporeality and inner conflict. Her work merges wood carvings and vintage textiles from the historic Tashkent Silk Mill, dyed naturally with red and white onion skins and avocado peels. The soft sculptures, filled with repurposed garments, confront the viewer with a meditation on identity, femininity, and cultural displacement. “I explore corporeality as a site of inner conflict,” says Spowart. “Clothing becomes a metaphor — both a shield and a boundary between the self and society.”
Supported by London-based art curator Alisa Lisovskaia, the project also includes a panel talk that brings together designers and cultural producers to discuss themes of heritage, sustainability, and artistic autonomy. The event creates space for critical dialogue and deeper connections, both within the diaspora and with the wider design community. As part of the accompanying program, the artist Zulfiya Spowart also leads a hands-on workshop inviting participants to create floral textile collages using embroidery and fabric layering techniques. The workshop echoes her practice of reviving inherited materials and traditions while making them accessible and personal.
