Anicka Yi: Our Love Is Bigger Than an AIDS Quilt

On view for the first time at WCMA, this installation by Anicka Yi (American, b. South Korea, 1971) immerses visitors in a sensorial experience. At its center, a large, illuminated dish contains hair gel with hundreds of cosmetic contact lenses pinned into its undulating surface, as a mentholated scent pervades the room.

In her distinctive use of unconventional and often ephemeral materials, Yi’s work reorders the cultural forces that privilege containment over leakage, clarity over ambiguity, and ocularity above all other senses.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.