Makiko Harris: Exploring Feminist Identity Through Monumental Art

Makiko Harris's Lacquered Rebellion at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery reclaims femininity through bold sculptures and paintings

Makiko Harris's  Lacquered Rebellion offers a bold meditation on contemporary femininity, identity, and power.

Her work bridges personal experience and feminist theory, making it feel raw and deeply introspective.

A Japanese-American artist born in the Netherlands, Harris moves between London and San Francisco.

Her education in painting and philosophy, notably with a focus on feminist aesthetics, informs the way she interrogates ideas of gender and belonging.

At the center of her practice is an exploration of objects tied to feminine identity—oversized fingernails, knitting needles, chains, and stockings.

These are not just passive symbols but are transformed into monumental forms, confronting viewers with a powerful reclamation of what it means to be a woman.

The nails, for instance, are no longer mere decorative objects. Instead, they become shields, weapons even, in a fight for agency.

Harris's artistic gestures aren't merely about reclaiming femininity—they're about wielding it as a form of power.

While completing her MA at the Royal College of Art in London, she came across her Japanese grandmother’s sewing kit, a relic that had been used for both practical and expressive purposes.

This inheritance led her to reimagine these tools, pushing their functionality to an almost absurd scale. Needles, once used for quiet domestic tasks, now loom in monumental sizes, nearly two meters tall.

They’re delicate yet aggressive, elegant yet brutal.

These sculptures don’t just fill space—they demand attention, challenging the viewer to think about the contradictions in what we think of as feminine power.

The other central piece of Lacquered Rebellion is Harris’s Stockings series. Here, she plays with both texture and perception.

At first glance, the fishnet tights seem familiar, something we've all seen before. But on closer inspection, they’re made of steel—rigid, unyielding.

It's a striking metaphor for the tension between vulnerability and strength, sensuality and protection.

Harris isn't just reflecting on the ways Asian women are fetishized; she’s confronting it head-on, subverting the narrative and making it hers. The stockings, rather than symbols of submission, become signs of rebellion.

Harris uses her materials—metal plates, chains, paint—as a way of layering meaning.

The juxtaposition of hard, industrial materials with soft, dripping brushstrokes speaks to the tension inherent in her work. Femininity, in Harris’s hands, is both sharp and soft, controlled and chaotic.

She leaves chains loose in her pieces, suggesting both bondage and the possibility of escape.

It's a nod to the intergenerational trauma passed down through women, and the complexities of breaking free from the expectations placed upon them.

Thematically, Harris’s work is deeply personal but it resonates universally. Her experience as a biracial woman informs much of her art, particularly in how she explores identity and belonging.

Feminism, for her, isn’t just an abstract theory—it’s lived experience, filtered through her personal history and cultural background.

What makes her work compelling is the way it refuses easy answers.

Each piece pushes the viewer to confront their own ideas about gender, identity, and power, challenging us to think more critically about our place within these structures.

The exhibition, which runs from August 23 to September 21, 2024, at the Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery in London, showcases Harris's unique blend of painting and sculpture.

It's her first solo exhibition at this gallery, but Harris is no stranger to showing her work.

Her previous exhibitions include Unfolding Traces presented by Pigeon Park in London (March 2023), Edge at Gallery G in Hiroshima, Japan (October 2023), and London Art Fair with Commonsense Gallery (January 2024).

Makiko Harris upcoming exhibitions include Kink with Maximillian Wölfgang Gallery in London (September 2024), Confront and Constrain with Ames Yavuz Gallery in Singapore (November 2024), and a salon exhibition with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL (March 2025). She is also working on an artist film featuring dancers with her needle sculptures, which is planned to be released in Spring 2025.

The power of Harris’s work lies in its ability to merge the personal with the political, the soft with the hard.

She plays with contrasts—feminine and masculine, delicate and forceful—to create something wholly original.

Her sculptures and paintings force us to rethink our assumptions about gender, about art, and about the very nature of power.

For more artworks and projects visit her website or follow Makiko Harris on Instagram: