Headlands Center for the Arts

Artist Statement

In sculptures and installations that emphasize the reciprocity of touch, Akashi forges experimental, dynamic objects, recalling states of organic transformation, growth, and decay. The Los Angeles artist initially studied photography, and her interest in the photographic process of transformation through time and space moved her to explore candle-making, sculpture, and glassmaking. Akashi’s sculptural universe exists in a perpetual state of metamorphosis, which is illuminated by the self-consuming flames of dripping wax candles and ephemeral light filtering through blown glass objects. Unidentifiable and inexplicably appealing, the deceptively nuanced sculptural bodies call out to be touched and are often held in delicately cast bronze hands.

While at Headlands

At the Headlands I will observe the landscape and study its geological and biological changes. I plan to focus on areas where growth and mutation have occurred, processes of reproduction and hibernation, and evidence of topological transformation. The research I gather will inform new analogue photographs and sculptures, drawn from sustained study of the surrounding ecology. These works will be on display during the last month of the residency. Traditional and experimental photographic processes will serve as a foundation for the array of material and process informed sculptures.