London police said a body was discovered on the tracks of a subway station early this morning, November 4, during the search for 31-year-old missing British artist Sarah Cunningham, who was last seen early Saturday morning.
Camden Police is awaiting official identification of the body. Cunningham’s family has been notified, according to a news release shared on X.
A spokesperson for London Metro Police confirmed to Hyperallergic that it has removed its “missing person appeal” related to Cunningham’s disappearance. The artist’s family asked for privacy during “this very difficult time,” police said.
“The death is being treated as unexpected but at this time it is not thought to be suspicious,” Camden Police wrote.
Cunningham was last seen around 3am on Saturday, November 2. Yesterday, November 3, Cunningham’s representing gallery Lisson posted a public appeal on Instagram for anyone with information on the artist’s whereabouts to come forward.
“We ask anyone who might have seen or heard anything, or might have any information on Sarah’s whereabouts, to please urgently contact us or the Metropolitan Police,” the gallery wrote. Hyperallergic has contacted Lisson Gallery.
Cunningham was last seen walking down Jamestown Road wearing an all-black outfit in the Camden borough, according to police, about a 12-minute walk from the Chalk Farm Underground Station where the body was found.
Born in Nottingham in 1993, Cunningham received a Master’s degree in painting from the Royal College of Art in London in 2022. The following year, she joined the roster of contemporary artists represented by Lisson Gallery, which has locations in London, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, and Beijing. Her first exhibition at the gallery, The Crystal Forest, opened in 2023 and featured her signature layered, kaleidoscopic abstract paintings evoking natural environments.
Cunningham had her first Los Angeles show this past summer, titled Flight Paths. The exhibition demonstrated Cunningham’s “frenetic and free movement of paint” in a series of works from 2024. Cunningham worked nocturnally, according to her biography on the gallery’s website.
This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.
