When British artists Bushra Fakhoury and Mal Fostock step into their respective galleries at the Mall Galleries, London, this October, theyll be doing more than showcasing over a hundred works. Theyll be opening a lifelong conversation – one between mother and son, sculptor and painter and past and present.
Their first joint UK solo exhibition, Inclusionby Mal Fostock and Transmuteby Bushra Fakhoury, is timed to coincide with Londons Frieze Week (711 October 2025). Together, their works stretch across painting, print, and sculpture, but at its core, the show is about how creativity can find harmony through contrast.
For Bushra, born in Lebanon and raised between continents, art has always been a dialogue with the world – political, personal, and profoundly human. Her sculptures, often monumental in scale, are charged with social commentary. From Dunamis, her nine-metre bronze elephant defying gravity in Park Lane, to her new series Transmute, which tackles deforestation, her work has long embodied power and protest. It symbolises human struggle to achieve excellence, she once said of Dunamis. We need to remember compassion, solidarity, and cooperation.
In contrast, Mals show, Inclusion, invites viewers inward, into the human psyche and form. His art spans painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography, each piece focusing on human presence. The art is an embrace of life, Mal reflects. It flows into many disciplines. People are a never-ending source of inspiration to me Nothing is more fascinating than creating a portrait.
Mal recalls the childhood awe of entering his mother’s studio, “All the various sculptures and objects would play on my imagination. Later, I started to photograph these objects It was as if my and my mothers deep psyches came together to speak with one voice”.
Bushras response is equally moving, “When we work together, even though our approaches are completely different, it gels together as if it was one soulIts as if I was a kite flying freely in the clouds, and he was holding the string to keep me from getting lost.”
Their collaboration, which includes joint photographic works, feels like a visual duet. Bushras sculptures grounded in myth and emotion, Mals photography breathing new life into her forms. Together, they transmute matter into memory.
In Inclusionand Transmute, mother and son dont just exhibit side by side, they engage in an ongoing artistic conversation that spans generations, disciplines, and dreams. One searches for the soul within the form, the other gives form to the soul.
As Mal put it simply: To represent my work most fully – and portray myself most authentically – I needed to display all the mediums I work in. I was intrigued to see them side by side, and alongside my mothers works, in a way that hadnt been explored before.
At Mall Galleries this October, that exploration comes to life and shows what happens when family and creativity come together.
Visit the exhibition at Mall Galleries, London, 7th-11th October 2025
