REMEMBERING ROGER K. BURTON: PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF HIS CAREER AND LEGACY FROM THE CREATIVE POWERHOUSE’S FRIENDS AND COLLABORATORS

IN CONJUNCTION WITH CATHY WARD’S OBITUARY, WE OFFER A SELECTION OF REMINISCENCES OF AN ARTISTIC VISIONARY

Published on January 11, 2026

The late Roger K. Burton knew just about everyone in London’s — and, more broadly, in the United Kingdom’s — vibrant community of avant-garde and experimental artists, as well as countless, fellow creative types in fashion, retail, the media, education, and other fields. Here, in conjunction with Cathy Ward’s Burton obituary (see our separate article), we’ve gathered recollections of the Horse Hospital’s founder and director from a range of friends and collaborators who worked with him over the years, admiring and helping him to realize his artistic vision.

Roger K. Burton standing in doorway of the Horse Hospital building soon after becoming its tenant in 1992. Photo by Guy Sangster Adams, courtesy of the Horse Hospital’s archive

Alexia Marmara, curator, fashion historian, and Horse Hospital archivist:

“Roger K. Burton was more than the founder of a gallery and unique [arts] space. He watched over anyone who ever set foot in the building and encouraged each of its visitors to be the most beautifully crooked version of themselves. The belief he had in all of us [was] an eternal, incandescent gift.”