“Coming of Age” Exhibition

Fondation Louis Vuitton

In 2019, Virgil Abloh curated a group exhibition titled “Coming of Age” in Los Angeles, California. Presented in creative partnership with Little Big Man Gallery, the exhibition centered around the concept, diversities, and complexities of male youth and boyhood—crossing class, race, social economics, subcultures, isolation, and camaraderie. “Coming of Age” traveled to Paris, Beijing, Milan, New York, Munich, Tokyo and Seoul, allowing students, artists, and local communities access to a DIY “copy center” to build and create their own zines with their favorite artworks from the exhibition.

In loving memory and honor of Virgil Abloh, “Coming of Age” was unveiled
at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in April 2022. An extension of the original “Coming of Age” exhibition, this new physical embodiment and homage of Virgil's world combined exhibition spaces, events and digital activations, allowing for participation on a global scale.

A physical embodiment and homage to Virgil Abloh's world, “Coming of Age” in Paris regroups, reimagines, and expands this original exhibition and its narrative story. A tribute to a hands-on creator, the exhibition encourages activities and participation, combining physical events with digital activations. Visitors become participants, alongside artists, photographers, musicians, directors, and animators. Diverse but united, the participants serve as an illustration of Virgil Abloh's mission and achievement to democratize the dream embodied by Louis Vuitton, rendering it a domain open to the aspirations of people from all walks of life, all ages, all genders, and all races.

I wrote the text for the original iteration of this exhibition, at Little Big Man Gallery in 2019, as well as the 2022 show at Fondation Louis Vuitton.