On May 3rd, Wales Bonner Togetherness returned for its second edition, taking over the Guggenheim Museum in New York City with a transcendent evening that blurred the lines between music, art, and community. Grace Wales Bonner, the British-Jamaican designer whose cultural fluency has reshaped the language of luxury fashion, curated Wales Bonner Togetherness as a space for communion—where sound becomes ritual and performance becomes healing.
The event unfolded beneath the oculus of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, where the spiral rotunda pulsed with rhythm and reverence. Nigerian highlife duo The Cavemen, Niger-based Etran de L’Air, and South Africa’s The Joy brought ancestral resonance into the present. Amaarae and Fireboy DML infused the night with futuristic Afropop, while Navy Blue and keiyaA invoked introspection.
This year’s Wales Bonner Togetherness coincided with Rashid Johnson’s A Poem for Deep Thinkers, creating a rich dialogue between visual and sonic expression. In a city electrified by Met Gala pre-parties, this gathering offered a softer, more spiritual charge.
Produced in partnership with Android, and supported by Lagavulin’s sensory installation Layers of Lagavulin, the evening marked another chapter in the evolving Wales BonnerNYC collaboration. The brand also unveiled a short film capturing the essence of Wales Bonner—an ongoing exploration of inclusivity and artistic kinship across disciplines.
As Wales Bonner explained, the intention was to “expand worlds through sound and spirit.” And she did—reminding us that within the spiral of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, togetherness can be sacred.
Photography by HANNAH TURNER HARTS/BFA.com