Interior Joy and Everyday Resistance – Derrick Adams at Gagosian

This week, I visited Gagosian Gallery (Davies Street, London) to view Derrick Adams: Situation Comedy, an exhibition that reimagines Black life through colour, collage, and cultural nuance. The show focuses on the domestic interior as both a physical and symbolic space, using layered imagery, television aesthetics, and playful composition to reflect themes of identity, joy, and representation.

For me, this exhibition deeply resonated with my ongoing work in interior architecture and visual storytelling, especially around the visibility of Black and marginalised experiences within designed environments.

Reclaiming the Domestic Space

In Situation Comedy, Adams references the aesthetics of vintage American sitcoms, using stylised, brightly coloured interiors as a setting for celebration and selfhood. These images do not simply depict domestic life but elevate it. The television frame becomes a stage for Black leisure, agency, and comfort, challenging historic portrayals of Black life as solely defined by struggle or trauma.

This idea echoes bell hooks’ concept of “homeplace” as a space of both protection and political significance (hooks, 1990). By using the home as a canvas for cultural affirmation, Adams shows how interior space becomes an act of resistance, especially when it celebrates Black joy as radical.

In my own design work, I often reflect on how spaces can affirm the presence and emotional reality of those who are often underrepresented in design discourse. Adams’ work reminded me that softness, humour, and the ordinary are just as vital to cultural visibility as activism.

Collage, Colour and Composition as Tools of Storytelling

Adams' technique is rooted in collage, layering texture, pattern, and photographic fragments to create energetic and structured compositions. The use of vivid colours, geometric furniture, and stylised poses is reminiscent of Romare Bearden’s work, yet with a distinctly contemporary tone. In combining fabric textures with printed graphics, Adams creates visual spaces that feel alive, deliberate, and affirming.

This visual layering mirrors the conceptual layering within my own research: merging identity, materiality, memory, and spatial experience. As Elkins (2000) argues, visual language can sometimes articulate emotional complexity better than written text. Adams’ visual storytelling is proof of this, using aesthetics to say what words often cannot.

His visual approach also relates to Afrofuturist design practices that reimagine Black presence across time and space, positioning Black culture not only in the past or present but also in imagined futures (Nelson, 2002).

The Influence of Pop Culture and Television Aesthetics

By referencing 20th-century sitcoms, Adams creates both familiarity and critique. The viewer is drawn into recognisable living rooms and smile-inducing poses, but behind this surface lies a sharp awareness of media representation. Who is usually seen in these spaces? Who is written out of comfort, family life, and light heartedness?

This line of questioning reflects Stuart Hall’s theory of representation, which argues that meaning is produced and reproduced through cultural images and narratives (Hall, 1997). In this exhibition, Adams reclaims that power by creating images that challenge invisibility and place Black life at the centre of everyday joy.

For me, this reinforces the potential of interior design not just as a technical discipline but as a cultural practice. It asks: how do we design spaces that allow people not only to live, but to feel seen?

How the Exhibition Informs My Practice

This exhibition has strengthened my commitment to creating design work that prioritises emotional wellbeing, cultural memory, and storytelling. Adams reminded me that representation within space matters, and that visual language can be a powerful way to honour lived experience.

His work also inspired me to further explore how pattern, furniture, and colour carry meaning beyond aesthetics. A couch, a floor tile, or a wall painting can represent belonging, safety, or identity. These details should not be overlooked in interior design. Instead, they should be approached with intention and care.

Conclusion

Derrick Adams’ Situation Comedy reframed my understanding of the domestic interior as more than functional. It is cultural, emotional, and political. Through collage and storytelling, he creates a world where Black joy is not exceptional but expected. As a designer, this challenged me to ask: how can my work create that same sense of ease, self-definition, and representation?

References

Elkins, J. (2000) How to Use Your Eyes. New York: Routledge.

Hall, S. (1997) Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: SAGE Publications.

hooks, b. (1990) Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. Boston: South End Press.

Nelson, A. (2002) Afrofuturism: Past-Future Visions. Interdisciplinary Humanities, 19(1), pp. 1–10.

Gagosian (2024) Derrick Adams: Situation Comedy. Gagosian Davies Street. Available at: https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2024/derrick-adams-situation-comedy (Accessed: March 2025).