PRESS RELEASE
How to Disappear Completely
Text by Iris Ziyao Li
Text by Iris Ziyao Li
Jetlag Projects is pleased to present How to Disappear Completely, a group exhibition opening on 4
February 2026 at Safehouse 1, Peckham, London. Bringing together works by Massimo Bartolini,
Emanuel de Carvalho, Ge Hui, Lisa Chang Lee, Hamish Pearch, Mohammed Sami, Andra Ursuța,
Justin de Verteuil and Jaime Welsh, the exhibition investigates what remains perceptible when
narrative no longer secures our encounter with the image.
At a moment when visibility and articulation function as cultural imperatives, the works assembled here operate through a deliberate withdrawal. To disappear in this context is not to vanish, but to step away from the compulsion to signify. The exhibition functions as a field of internal differences where meaning is held in suspension, inviting a slower and more exposed form of attention from the viewer.
The artists occupy distinct positions within a shared refusal of narrative authority. Jaime Welsh and Emanuel de Carvalho engage architecture as a force that conditions perception, while Mohammed Sami and Andra Ursuța explore disappearance as it unfolds after the event, exposing history as a process of extraction rather than a whole truth. Lisa Chang Lee, Hamish Pearch, and Massimo Bartolini turn to the everyday, examining how disappearance operates subtly through systems of classification, function, and perception. Meanwhile, Ge Hui and Justin de Verteuil explore the human figure as a 'site of suspension.' Their works resist narrative closure, instead holding the viewer in a state of ambiguity between proximity and distance.
The material reality of Safehouse 1 is central to this inquiry. Stripped to its architectural fabric, the Victorian building bears the traces of former use and erosion. Here, space becomes a condition rather than a neutral container, insisting on a bodily encounter with time and absence. How to Disappear Completely does not offer a position to agree with or a story to follow. Instead, it invites viewers to remain with what does not resolve, and to consider disappearance as a space in which attention can still be exercised.
At a moment when visibility and articulation function as cultural imperatives, the works assembled here operate through a deliberate withdrawal. To disappear in this context is not to vanish, but to step away from the compulsion to signify. The exhibition functions as a field of internal differences where meaning is held in suspension, inviting a slower and more exposed form of attention from the viewer.
The artists occupy distinct positions within a shared refusal of narrative authority. Jaime Welsh and Emanuel de Carvalho engage architecture as a force that conditions perception, while Mohammed Sami and Andra Ursuța explore disappearance as it unfolds after the event, exposing history as a process of extraction rather than a whole truth. Lisa Chang Lee, Hamish Pearch, and Massimo Bartolini turn to the everyday, examining how disappearance operates subtly through systems of classification, function, and perception. Meanwhile, Ge Hui and Justin de Verteuil explore the human figure as a 'site of suspension.' Their works resist narrative closure, instead holding the viewer in a state of ambiguity between proximity and distance.
The material reality of Safehouse 1 is central to this inquiry. Stripped to its architectural fabric, the Victorian building bears the traces of former use and erosion. Here, space becomes a condition rather than a neutral container, insisting on a bodily encounter with time and absence. How to Disappear Completely does not offer a position to agree with or a story to follow. Instead, it invites viewers to remain with what does not resolve, and to consider disappearance as a space in which attention can still be exercised.
Andra Ursuța, Untitled (fragment from “Alps”), 2016, aqua resin, urethane plastic, hardware, polyester, 109.2 × 142.2 × 17.8 cm / 43 × 56 × 7 in
Andra Ursuța, Untitled (fragment from “Alps”), 2016 (detail)
Installation View, How to disappear completely, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London
Emanuel de Carvalho, document lack XIV, 2026, oil on linen with pumice, 50 × 40 cm
Installation View, How to disappear completely, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London
Jaime Welsh, Cabin, 2022, Giclée print on baryta paper, metal, AR UV glass, edition of 3 + 2 AP, 130 × 174 × 4 cm
Installation View, How to disappear completely, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London
Massimo Bartolini, Dew, 2023, aluminium, micallized paint, dew, 60 × 40 × 2.5 cm / 23 5/8 × 15 3/4 × 1 in (detail)
Ge Hui 葛辉, Waiting, Up to This Point (⾄此等待), 2013, oil on canvas, 15 × 12 cm
Ge Hui 葛辉, Waiting, Up to This Point (⾄此等待), 2013, accumulated oil paint, 15 × 12 cm
Installation View, How to disappear completely, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London
Lisa Chang Lee, Extra Ordinary 9/10, 2026, patinated bronze, 175 × 145 mm (each)
Mohammed Sami, Nineteen Eighty-four II, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 55.1 × 50.1 cm / 21.7 × 19.7 in
Mohammed Sami, Nineteen Eighty-four II, 2019, (detail)
Installation View, How to disappear completely, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London