From ceramic goblin feet to furry disembodied legs, Korean-Chinese artist Woo Jin Joo is using London junk to inject the art world with a spirit of playfulness

Woo Jin Joo’s studio is full of magic. Ceramic green goblin feet line the windowsill, disembodied furry legs jut out of one white wall and, on the table behind where the Korean-Chinese artist sits drinking tea, a headless being dressed in a black coat squats, arms aloft in warning.

There are also neat racks of colourful thread next to a freehand embroidery machine, the source of this supernatural hoard. This is where Joo creates much of her art – surface embroideries and sculptural 3D creatures inspired by Korean myth, philosophy and the relationship between humans and the natural world.

From wedding ceremonies to sunsets with pumpkins, even in urinals, Kusama’s work brought joy, mischief and inspiration to so many

I have always loved Yayoi Kusama’s work, and when I visited an exhibition of hers on a gap year in Sydney I was spellbound by her infinity mirror rooms. I immediately thought, despite being single at the time, this is a fantastic space to propose in. Fast forward around eight years and I am on one knee holding a ring out to my partner inside an infinity mirror room in Helsinki, with excited and expectant Finns looking on. He said yes. At the wedding, the breakfast was held under polka dotted pink lanterns. Kusama was a fantastic artist, who also protested for my ability to marry – performing her own gay wedding ceremonies before it was legally recognised – and inspired key aspects of my wedding. Liam, 40, Surrey

Artist rose to prominence in 2018 by painting his eponymous tag in public spots across southern England

The street artist Helch, known for murals and tags across England, has died, his gallery has said.

He rose to prominence in 2018 by painting his eponymous tag in capital letters across a string of public spots in London as well as bridges on the M4, M1 and M25.

Artist rose to prominence in 2018 by painting his eponymous tag in public spots across southern England

The street artist Helch, known for murals and tags across England, has died, his gallery has said.

He rose to prominence in 2018 by painting his eponymous tag in capital letters across a string of public spots in London as well as bridges on the M4, M1 and M25.

John Fabiano has travelled the globe photographing dogs with jobs – from Italian truffle sniffers and Greenlandic sled dogs to Perla the hotel receptionist in Cologne

A self-confident woman strides on to the Fourth Plinth, Nan Goldin captures sex, cats and death and even the Turner Prize shows promise this year

• See all of our unmissable autumn arts recommendations here

The most anticipated exhibition of the year centres on an embroidered epic of war and conquest that miraculously preserves an intimate window on the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066. Yet, you may find yourself simply fascinated by the artistry of the Anglo-Saxon women who used coloured wool to depict billowing sails, charging horses and King Harold’s spectacular moustache. Jonathan Jones
• British Museum, London, 10 September to 11 July

The last time she displayed a sculpture in public in Britain, someone covered it in white paint. But, undeterred, the acclaimed artist is a placing a black woman in Trafalgar Square

Tschabalala Self is relentlessly positive and unstoppably optimistic. The US artist is waiting for the unveiling of Lady in Blue, her new sculpture for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, London, a towering, colourful painted bronze of a black woman striding (positively, optimistically) into the future. Self seems resolutely hopeful about the work, which is pretty impressive considering what happened to her last public sculpture in the UK. “Yeah,” she says, speaking from her home in upstate New York. “I mean, that was a completely racist act.”

In 2022, Self unveiled Seated at Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross, London. Like Lady in Blue, it was a vast, brightly painted bronze depiction of a black woman, this time seated demurely on a chair. After being shown at Coal Drops Yard without incident, it was moved to the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, where the reception wasn’t quite as warm. “Within the first week,” says Self, “it was spraypainted white, but only on the skin of the sculpture.” As vandalism goes, it doesn’t get much more pointed, or racist. “The first feeling I had was just pain that my sculpture had been harmed. That someone had enacted violence on an object I had imbued with love and affection.”