Anya Gallaccio:
Preserve

Exhibition Overview

Due to the temporal nature of her work, much of Gallaccio’s practice is best known through documentary photographs and memory. This exhibition will introduce her sculptures and large-scale installations to a new generation engaged in environmental sustainability and preserving fragile ecosystems. 
 
Renowned for her innovative use of organic, ephemeral materials such as ice, apples, flowers, grass, salt, trees and even chocolate, and for her explorations of transformation and impermanence, Gallaccio has reshaped our understanding of contemporary sculpture. While her practice bears a formal relationship to artists associated with Minimalism and the Arte Povera movement, such as Giovanni Anselmo, and the unconventional and subversive use of materials seen in the works of Lynda Benglis, Gallaccio’s work is characterised by a profound interest in the momentary over the monumental. Her installations, often incorporating materials that naturally transform, decay, or grow over the duration of an exhibition, have redefined what sculpture can be. They embrace the unpredictable results this process brings, inviting viewers to contemplate themes of temporality, change, and humanity’s relationship with nature.

Inspired by Kent’s rich agricultural heritage as ‘The Garden of England’, renowned for its abundant orchards, hop farms and farming traditions, this exhibition will highlight Gallaccio’s longstanding exploration of our complex relationships with the cycles of the natural world and the intersections of labour, production and consumption. Gallaccio will transform local materials into mediations on ecology and the ephemeral nature of life.

The exhibition will premiere an ambitious new commission by Gallaccio, engaging with Kent’s famed White Cliffs and chalk landscapes. This monumental new work will reveal how chalk is integral not only to the region’s natural heritage but also to its labour traditions, quarried to produce lime for construction and used as fertiliser on fields. Gallaccio’s choice of this foundational material resonates with Turner’s seaside location, surrounded by protected marine chalk beds, and the bid to establish a Cross-Channel UNESCO Global Geopark across the Kent Downs and neighbouring areas in France.

Alongside this site-specific installation, the exhibition will see Gallaccio restage several historic works, including her celebrated wall-based gerbera sculpture and a reconstruction of a felled tree spanning one of the first-floor galleries.  

This printer operates once a day, during which it prints a single layer of the sculpture. Each layer must dry before the next is added the following day, continuing until the sculpture is complete.

The printer will operate daily at midday, when possible.

About the artist

Anya Gallaccio (born 1963, Paisley) studied at Kingston Polytechnic, London (1985) and Goldsmiths College, London, in 1988. She was Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego (2008–2024).

Selected exhibitions and commissions include: Lindisfarne Castle, National Trust, Berwick-upon-Tweed (2018); The Contemporary Austin, Austin (2017); Whitworth Gallery, Manchester (2016); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego (2015); Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh (2014); Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (2009); Sculpture Center, New York (2006) and Ikon, Birmingham (2003) amongst others.

Her works are held in public collections including: Arts Council, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Tate, London; and Seattle Art Museum, Seattle. In 2003 Anya was nominated for the Turner Prize at Tate Britain, London. She is currently the Kenneth Armitage Fellow 2023–2025 and she lives and works between London and San Diego.

Support

The exhibition is generously supported by Thomas Dane Gallery, Annet Gelink Gallery, Henry Moore Foundation and Alexandra and Guy Halamish. Additional support comes from the Exhibition Supporters’ Circle: Sarah Griffin, Helen van der Meij-Tcheng, Ivor Braka Ltd, and further supporters who wish to remain anonymous. The learning project An Apple a Day is funded by Farming in Protected Landscapes programme from DEFRA, the Kent Downs National Landscape (Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), with an additional grant from The Lunaria Trust. The exhibition was shortlisted for the Freelands Award 2022. Lees Court Estate, Creating Nature’s Corridors and grow fruit Trees are Project Partners and In-Kind Supporters. Turner thanks our public funders, Kent County Council and Arts Council England, for their continued support.