Alex Margo Arden Rebuilds Amy Winehouse's World in London

Fifteen years after Amy Winehouse's death, artist Alex Margo Arden has opened "Nothing Personal," an exhibition of hundreds of replicas of the singer's personal items across three rooms of the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation in London. The show runs through January 23.

Arden spent five years forensically dissecting pixelated images of Winehouse found online, in catalogues, newspapers and magazines to determine which objects to track down. Since 2021, she has bought exact copies of books from Winehouse's library, the makeup and perfume the singer used, and the boardgames and decorative items that filled her home.

"This show is a really personal insight into Amy," Arden told ARTnews, describing the objects on view as "parallel objects."

What is on display?

The recreations include a pair of ballet slippers signed by fans and left outside Winehouse's home after her death, and a birthday card from producer Mark Ronson and Adele that Winehouse never received.

Arden feels the hundred books on display create an intimate atmosphere and add historical value—more so, she argues, than presenting one or two authentic items from Winehouse's estate would have done.

The centerpiece of this labor is Library (2026), containing dozens of volumes: Vladimir Nabokov's Speak Memory sits next to the cookbook The New Classic 1000 Recipes, not far from a book on marriage. Biographies of David Beckham, Bob Dylan, Carole King, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn round out the shelves.

At one point, Arden owned 20 versions of the same book. She wanted to compare each copy's spine and cover to ensure she had the correct edition.

How does the show counter the tabloid narrative?

"What I'm proposing in the artwork is that as a collection, this gives us really good insight" into Winehouse's life, Arden said, cautioning against focusing on any single object.

She pointed to a Weight Watchers book, which some viewers might link to Winehouse's history of eating disorders—a history the British tabloids put under a microscope. "In isolation, these objects can be used to really push specific narratives about her," she explained.

In an adjacent room, Same Otherwise (2026) recreates the fireplace of Winehouse's home at 2 Jeffrey's Place, where she wrote her Grammy Award–winning album Back to Black. Framed issues of British Vogue, comic pages from Betty and Veronica, and a mirror bearing a picture of Marilyn Monroe stand over the mantel, just as Winehouse arranged them.

But Arden left gaps where the musician had framed personal photos of friends and family. "The gaps speak to the feeling of things being present and missing always," she said.

Can a scent be an artwork?

Yes. Perfume said to have belonged to Amy Winehouse [I–IV] (2024–26) dispenses Chanel No.5 through a custom device in the gallery. Over the exhibition's run, the Chanel will be exchanged for other perfumes Winehouse is said to have worn. Arden would not disclose which ones; fashion publications have previously reported that Winehouse also wore Alien by Thierry Mugler, Vera Wang Princess and Givenchy's Hot Couture.

Smaller works include Jigsaw (2026), a stack of puzzles depicting the Beatles, The Simpsons and Casablanca—a portrait of Winehouse as introspective rather than the party girl of tabloid legend. Sent Otherwise (2026) recreates the Ronson-and-Adele birthday card, discovered only years after her death, a reminder that her life is still being excavated.

Arden also inserts herself into the tribute. Display Identification Cubes (2026) comprises a thousand acrylic ice cubes resembling the numbered placards used in museum vitrines. The numbering method recurs in her earlier work All Clear (2022), where print-outs were affixed next to a broom, a ladder and a woven basket—mundane objects taking on a sinister, crime-scene connotation.

In "Nothing Personal," the plastic numbers mark the pieces of Winehouse's life Arden has not discovered yet, and maybe never will. "They draw attention to spaces where things are absent, but they also mark spaces where things have once been," she said.