Anya Gallaccio

Anya Gallaccio (1963, Paisley, Scotland) Anya Gallaccio (1963, Paisley, Scotland) lives and works in London. Rising to prominence in the late 1980s as part of the YBA generation, Gallaccio was a pioneer in expanding what sculpture could be, introducing organic, ephemeral materials such as ice, flowers, apples, chocolate, salt and trees into gallery spaces, and making transformation and decay central to the work rather than incidental to it. Her installations, which naturally change, deteriorate or grow over the duration of an exhibition, redefined the boundaries of contemporary sculpture and anticipated a generation of artists now engaged with environmental sustainability and fragile ecosystems.

While her practice bears a formal relationship to Minimalism and Arte Povera and shares with Lynda Benglis an unconventional, subversive use of materials, Gallaccio's defining concern is the momentary over the monumental. Due to the temporal nature of her work, much of her practice is best known through documentary photographs and memory. Her longstanding exploration of humanity's complex relationship with natural cycles, and with the intersections of labour, production and consumption, has made her one of the most distinctive voices in British sculpture.

Gallaccio studied at Kingston Polytechnic, London (1984–85) and Goldsmiths' College, University of London (1985–88). She is a Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego.

Solo exhibitions include NOW, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2019); Beautiful Minds, Thomas Dane Gallery, London (2018); To see if time was there, Austin Contemporary, Austin (2017); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2015); Stroke, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh (2014); Highway, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (2012); That Open Space Within, Camden Arts Center, London (2010); Love Is Only A Feeling, Turner Prize Exhibition, Tate, London (2003); Beat, Duveen Sculpture Commission, Tate Britain, London (2002); Falling from grace, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (2001); Chasing Rainbows, Delfina Studios, London (1999); Intensities and Surfaces, Wapping Pumping Station, London (1994).

Group exhibitions include Among the Trees, Hayward Gallery, London (2019); Stage of Being, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar (2017); SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium and Engagement, 21st Biennial of Sydney (2016); Radical Nature, Barbican, London (2009); Material Culture: The Object in British Art of the 1980s and '90s, Hayward Gallery, London (1997); Brilliant, Walker Arts Centre, Minneapolis and CAM, Houston (1996); The British Art Show 4, National Touring Exhibition (1995); Freeze, Surrey Docks, London (1988).

Residencies and awards include the Kenneth Armitage Fellowship 2023–25; Turner Prize nomination, Tate Britain, London (2003); Paul Hamlyn Award for Visual Artists, Paul Hamlyn Foundation; Sargeant Fellowship, The British School at Rome; San Francisco Art Institute; Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California.

Works are held in public collections including Tate, London; Het Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar; Arts Council, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Caldic Collection; and Seattle Art Museum.