Photo By Gail

Kelly Akashi’s work often explores the impermanence of the natural world. In 2024‘s Monument (Regeneration), the artist draws inspiration from nature’s regenerative resilience. A delicately latticed borosilicate-glass sphere – balanced between fragility and strength – rests a top a weathered, steel plinth reminiscent of a tree trunk.

From the orb’s fissures, hand-blown glass flowers resembling stars of Bethlehem emerge, evoking nature’s quiet persistence and its capacity to renew and flourish through fracture. Scattered petals on the plinth underscore the continuous cycle of nature – from growth and decay to rebirth. This work was first shown shortly after the Altadena fires that devastated the artist’s home and studio. It stands as a monument to impermanence and regeneration – a reminder that even amid trauma, loss, and destruction, the promise of renewal and new life is always present.

Photographed in the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles.