Incised Reliquary (Sweetgum Pod) art by Kelly Akashi

Incised Reliquary (Sweetgum Pod) was featured in Kelly Akashi’s exhibition at Lisson Gallery in Los Angeles in early 2025, following a devastating fire that destroyed her home and studio. Drawing from objects and materials salvaged from the aftermath, the exhibition delved into themes of transformation, temporality, and ancestral memory. In this work, Akashi juxtaposes delicate gold leaf, an element deeply rooted in international craft traditions, with weathered steel, a material known for its strength and resistance. This contrast underscores the tension between fragility and resilience, impermanence and endurance. At its core, a fossilized form evokes geological time and organic decay, while the radiating steel, a pattern borrowed from her grandmother's doilies, gestures outward like sunbeams, channeling the elemental force of nature and the cycle of renewal.