Jonathan Baldock

Hanging in the entrance to the London Mithraeum Bloomberg Space, the words “Tell Mum You Love Her” are inscribed on the wings of an eponymous sculpture—depicting a hybrid of butterfly and human. Crafted from burlap, felt, cotton, and ceramic, as well as dance shoes once belonging to the artist’s mother, the work, and its pithy reminder to pick up the phone and call Mom, foretells the conceptual framework around which Jonathan Baldock’s exhibition “0.1%” is conceived.

At its center stands Mother, 2025. Nearly four meters tall, the goddess-like figure dons a head that is the bronze enlargement of a clay sculpture that Baldock made for his mother as a child. Housed in the museum that is also home to the Temple of Mithras—an all-male ancient Roman worship space whose excavated remains were discovered in London and are now installed there—she stands as a powerful counterbalance to women’s exclusion. Echoing the exhibition’s title, which references the minimal genetic difference that separates one human from another, she also serves as a potent reminder of how deeply related we all are as humans.

Organized within a structure of tree branches and the ropes stretched between them, which act as a symbol of interconnectedness, the show unfolds as a fascinating interplay between folkloric forms and contemporary aesthetics: Image panels with hand-sewn symbols (love grows deeper, 2024, and Chosen Family, 2025), soft fabric sculptures like Bluebell (i), 2024, and ceramic vessels in gender-fluid forms with instructive titles like Take only what you need or Use all that you take, both 2024, create realms deeply rooted in universal cultural rituals often led by women and their transformation. As one leaves the exhibition space, having the unifying power of female practices and customs in mind, the moment finally arrives: “Mom, hey, how are you?”