Hamad Butt, a Young British Artist (YBA) whose career was cut short by AIDS in 1994, is finally receiving a retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery in London, titled “Apprehensions,” on view until September 7. The exhibition highlights Butt’s bio-art installation *Transmission* (1990), which features live flies feeding on sugar paper texts about contagion, alongside glass books lit by ultraviolet lamps. The show reassesses Butt’s subtle, layered work in contrast to the more famous YBAs like Damien Hirst, who debuted a strikingly similar fly piece, *A Thousand Years* (1990), shortly after Butt’s work was first exhibited.
This retrospective matters because it corrects a historical imbalance in the YBA narrative, bringing attention to an artist whose work—dealing with AIDS, homosexuality, race, and blind faith—was overshadowed by the commercial success of his peers. The exhibition also reignites a long-standing rumor that Hirst appropriated Butt’s fly-piece, raising questions about influence, credit, and the politics of recognition in the art world. By resurfacing Butt’s legacy, the show challenges the canon of 1990s British art and underscores how institutional support can redress past neglect.