Akhelo’s Walk is a deeply personal project that has been ongoing for three years. In March 2021, Annette Lawrence turned her walking practice into a memorial to honor her late nephew, Lawrence (Ahkelo) Wade Kimbrough (September 28, 2000 – February 14, 2021). Friends and family contributed to the 7444 miles logged for each day of Ahkelo’s life, making this a collective act of remembrance. The charts created to record the miles are the data set for the works in Ahkelo’s Walk.
In previous works, Annette Lawrence has used tipping text in space to create a more dynamic image. For Ahkelo’s Walk, the charts are repeatedly slanted and mirrored in various sizes, resembling imaginary birds, planes, rocket ships, robots, and architectural schematics. The numbers are illegible, yet taken as a whole, feel familiar.
Lawrence’s work has been widely exhibited and is held in museums and private collections including MFA, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art; The Rachofsky Collection, Dallas; ArtPace Center for Contemporary Art, San Antonio; Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin; and the Art Collection of the Dallas Cowboys. Her work was included in the 1997 Whitney Biennial.
[excerpted from Conduit Gallery website: www.conduitgallery.com]