LAKESHA LEE

LaKesha Lee weaves family photos into the work, cultivating a “material-language” that bears the patina of history. The act of making—cutting, layering, searching, mixing, boiling, stitching, firing—becomes a process of repair and reclamation, an homage to resilience within the African American experience and connection across generations.

Lee’s practice is rooted in material exploration, where accessible and natural materials become a language of freedom and cultural preservation. Her materials are literally infused with the land, using walnut ink, marigold, and pokeberry. Inspired by a quilt, the last gift from her grandmother before her passing, Lee’s material is a living legacy as she salvages cloth from the Knoxville area, her family, and the remnants of her past projects to piece together a tapestry of memory. Materials become vessels of memory, infused with the tension between what is preserved and what is lost.

Family, in all its complexities, is the heart of her creative practice. Each piece serves as an archive of intimate stories evoking the textures of lived experiences. Central to her research is the concept of memory—how it is preserved, interpreted, and remade over time. In crafting these visual and material narratives, she seeks to not only preserve her family’s legacy but also offer a space where viewers can connect to their own histories and imagine new futures.