‘The light pours out of me is not a public artwork, it is the result of an intense and private process when the stars aligned, and everything fell into place.’ Anya Gallaccio

The light pours out of me takes the form of a contemporary folly or grotto, in a nod to eighteenth-century British landscape and garden design. An underground chamber, surrounded by obsidian and protected by hornbeam and gold barbed wire. The walls undulate with amethyst, the seductive and sensual clusters of crystals producing a deceptively smooth but treacherously jagged surface.

In relation to The light pours out of me, Gallaccio has said ‘I would like it to be unsettling for people when they first encounter it. I’d like them to question whether they should enter the gate or not. Then, when they come into the space it is very formal, quite grandiose but intimate, a quiet place for one or two people.’

Gallaccio creates site-specific installations, often using organic materials as her medium, such as fruit, flowers, tree branches, ice and chocolate. The nature of these materials results in natural processes of transformation and decay, often with unpredictable results. As Jonathan Watkins notes of Gallaccio, ‘one may revisit her individual works… but they are never what they were when first seen.’

Gallaccio‘s work is remarkable for its conflation of inclusiveness and rigour, for engaging a light touch which belies its profundity. Through the use of a wide range of materials, often in large quantities, such as chocolate, sugar or salt, and in conjunction with man-made whistling kettles, candles and Polaroid photographs, she conveys her preoccupation with the nature of change through the passage of time, the balance in life struck between growth and decay.

‘I see my works as being a performance and collaboration […] There is unpredictability in the materials and collaborations I get involved in. Making a piece of work becomes about chance – not just imposing will on something, but acknowledging its inherent qualities.’ Anya Gallaccio

Biography

Anya Gallaccio (b.1963, Paisley, Scotland) lives and works in London and San Diego. She grew up in South West London and studied at Kingston Polytechnic and Goldsmiths’ College. She is renowned for her innovative use of organic, ephemeral materials – ranging from chocolate, ice, wax, apples, flowers and chalk – and for her explorations of transformation, change and impermanence. Throughout her practice, Gallaccio has significantly reshaped understandings of contemporary sculpture.

Gallaccio has exhibited extensively both in the UK and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (2019); Lindisfarne Castle, National Trust, Berwick-upon-Tweed (2018); The Contemporary Austin, Austin, TX (2017); Whitworth Gallery, Manchester (2016); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego (2015); Camden Art Centre, London (2008); Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (2009); Sculpture Center, New York (2006); Ikon, Birmingham (2003); Tate Britain, London (2003) amongst others. She was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2003. In June 2024 she was announced as the winner of the commission to create The AIDS Memorial in London. In September 2024 a major retrospective of her work opened at Turner Contemporary, Margate. Gallaccio’s work is featured in numerous public and private collections such as the Tate Gallery, London; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; and South London Gallery, London.