A Playbunny murdered at just 20 years old has inspired an exhibition at the Bernheim in London.
Centerfolds are emblematic of Anglo-Saxon media culture: the famous magazine centerfold posters have adorned the walls of entire generations of enthusiasts. They were admirers of everything: movie stars, music heroes, and sports champions. Cristine Brache, a Miami-based artist who has exhibited internationally, celebrates the women who were the object of obsessive media attention during the golden age of American erotica with an exhibition titled "Centerfolds" (Bernheim Gallery, London, February 12-April 2, 2026).
Centerfolds presents three interconnected bodies of work that explore personality, obsolescence, alienation, and the power dynamics inherent in each.
The entire work was born from Brache's discovery that Dorothy Stratten, a Playmate murdered by her lover in the very year she gained the most exposure (1980, when she was twenty), wrote poetry, a fact almost entirely absent from her biographies and documentaries. This omission became a catalyst for the project. As a poet herself, Brache was struck by the intimacy and solitude inherent in Dorothy Stratten's writing, and by the gap between her inner life and her public life for which she is remembered. The model-actress has entered the American imagination as the beautiful, unlucky girl, the subject of more or less hidden references in famous songs by Bryan Adams and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for example.
Also on display at the Bernheim in London is a custom fragrance, created in collaboration with perfumer Marissa Zappas (@marissazappas), conceived to function as a portrait, existing in the space and gradually unfolding as viewers move through the building.
Centerfolds by Cristine Brache at Bernheim, LONDON 1 New Burlington St, London W1S 2JA