Exhibitions

Kelly Akashi: Heirloom

New York, United States

A meditation on grief and inheritance told through bronze, glass, and the resilient materials of a lost domestic garden.

sculpture

Image credit

© Lisson Gallery

Meet the artist

ArtLovers Tip

Look for the lace patterns in the steel screens; they are digital scans of the artist's grandmother's tablecloth, a hidden nod to the domestic labor that underpins her work.

Exhibition Highlights - What you’ll see

Kelly Akashi transforms the heavy weight of personal loss into a tactile exploration of what remains. Following the destruction of her home and studio, she returns to the land to cast roses, irises, and branches in bronze, turning fragile botanical life into enduring relics of care. These works bridge the gap between biological time and geological permanence, centering on the way objects carry the histories of those who once held them.

You're watching the play of light through flame-worked glass and the textured oxidation of Corten steel. At the center of the gallery, a monumental stone ring—an enlargement of a family heirloom—commands the space, its scale reflecting how grief can distort and expand our perception of the familiar. The atmosphere is one of quiet, heavy stillness, where the scent of metal and the delicate transparency of glass roots suggest a beauty born from upheaval.

Worth the trip

  • Material Alchemy: Witness Akashi's mastery over disparate materials, from delicate book-ash flocked paper to weathered steel panels that record the passage of time.
  • The Whitney Connection: Time your visit to coincide with the 2026 Whitney Biennial, offering a deeper context for Akashi's rising significance in the contemporary art world.
  • Intimate Scale Made Grand: Experience the emotional impact of seeing a small, private heirloom transformed into a monumental sculpture that challenges your sense of space and memory.

How to experience it

Walk slowly between the steel panels to feel the physical gap Akashi uses to represent the interruption of history. Take a moment to look closely at the glass mallow plant; notice how the exposed roots symbolize recovery from disturbed soil. After leaving the gallery, walk toward the High Line to see how New York's own industrial steel and wild greenery mirror the tensions in Akashi's work.

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New York, United States

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