Jessica Akerman (b.1978, Wellington, UK) lives and works in Bristol, UK.
Her material-led practice moves between two and three dimensions to explore the visual and symbolic potential of objects and bodies: their materiality, function, and the power they carry. She reimagines everyday objects and systems, often using humour and playful tactics to explore the theme of labour, and how experiences of work reveal restricted environments and fantasy realms.
Jessica studied Sculpture at Chelsea College of Art, and History of Art & French at UCL. She has exhibited in the UK and Ireland, has received funding from Arts Council England, and was a Lead Artist on Artichoke’s national artwork PROCESSIONS.
Residencies include TheCoLAB Body and Place Residency 2024, Kent Cultural Baton Hoo Peninsula Artist Retreat and Metal Time and Space Residency.
Much of Jessica Akerman’s oeuvre draws on her experiences of working as an administrator to support her creative practice. Her work engages with all aspects of labour, from its physical manifestations and tools to its behavioural sub-cultures and its relationship to how we navigate our environments. For example, she often uses Microsoft Excel to create large-scale digital drawings through a time-consuming process of colouring individual cells without coding or shortcuts. This process resembles her administrative work, as well as riffing on theories of employees “stealing” time from employers by doing unrequested tasks such as idly decorating a spreadsheet. Akerman’s practice disrupts our expectations and biases around labour, disconcertingly revealing the symbolic power of objects we use every day and challenging assumptions of how life intersects with employment.
— Anna Souter, https://annasouter.net/
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Fat Rascals, St Anne’s House, Bristol
2021 Cork Caryatids, Cork Midsummer Festival
2019 Annihilation Seal, ArcadeCampfa, Cardiff
2016 Heave and Flow: Jessica Akerman records soundscapes of labour & play. Museum of Portable Sound
2014 Women’s Work Songs, Made in Roath, Cardiff. Performance with folk singer Frankie Armstrong;
2014 Live Work Space, Hole Story, Hackney, London
2013 Start to change your standards of working and living for Rochford Art Collector Series, Essex
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 The Hide Installation & Sculpture Showcase, Gloucestershire
2025 Women by Women II, Centrespace, Bristol;
2025 Pick it Up, 17 Midland Road, Bristol, with Morven Mulgrew
2024 Pratfall, Fringe Arts Bath
2023 Definitions of Drawing II, Sunny Bank Mills, Leeds
2022 The Hide Installation & Sculpture Showcase, Gloucestershire
2020 Centre of Gravity, Soapworks, Bristol
2016 Of the Sea, Chatham Dockyard, Kent
2016 Screening of My Mildmannered Mother-in-Law from Mildmay, BFI, London
2014 Baton Shell Grotto, Art Moves, Queen Elizabeth Park, London
2011 Festival of Britain, Queen Elizabeth Walk, Southbank, London
2010 A day at the beach in Whitechapel, Whitechapel Gallery
2010 Songs of Salt, Whitstable Biennale Satellite Programme, Kent
2010 RCA Secret 2010, Royal College of Art, London
2007 Sculpture Degree Show, Chelsea College of Art & Design
2007 Immateriality, Ada Street Gallery
2006 Tournament, Spital Square, London
2006 Xhibit06, The Arts Gallery, London
2006 Art School Palestine, Chelsea College of Art & Design
2006 Nowhere, Now Here, St Pancras Crypt, London
SOCIALLY ENGAGED COMMISSIONS
2022 Big Splash, Riverfront Arts Centre, Newport;
2022 Healing Banner, National Refugee Week, Sherman Theatre.
2021 Summer of Smiles, Cardiff City Council.
2019 Painted Pigeons and Lady’s Tresses, Vintage by the Sea, Morecambe. Commissioner: Deco Publique.
2018 Processions, Cardiff. Commissioner: Artichoke for 14-18 NOW.
2013 Darlinghurst Playground Songs for On the Line, Chalkwell Hall, Essex. Commissioner: Metal.
JESSICA AKERMAN CV
SOCIALLY ENGAGED COMMISSIONS
2022 Big Splash, Riverfront Arts Centre, Newport;
2022 Healing Banner, National Refugee Week, Sherman Theatre.
2021 Summer of Smiles, Cardiff City Council.
2019 Painted Pigeons and Lady’s Tresses, Vintage by the Sea, Morecambe. Commissioner: Deco Publique.
2018 Processions, Cardiff. Commissioner: Artichoke for 14-18 NOW.
2013 Darlinghurst Playground Songs for On the Line, Chalkwell Hall, Essex. Commissioner: Metal.
OTHER PROJECTS
2020 Caraboo Loops Rough Music podcast
2018 Suffrage Patches, a celebration of the centenary of women’s suffrage; collectable embroidered patches released each month.
2017 Gerimus, sustainably produced accessories project inspired by British Early Warning System architecture and military surveillance.
2012 WOW Bite: Women’s Work Songs talk at Women of the World Festival, London.
RESIDENCIES, AWARDS
2025-2026 New Platform Art
2024 theCOLAB Body and Place drawing residency
2024 BPH x BD25 Bradford Producing Hub International Artist Exchange Programme
2021 Developing Your Creative Practice Arts Council England grant; Gane Trust grant
2020 a-n Covid-19 Emergency Fund bursary
2019 Spike Associates Scholarship for one-year CPD course, Press Play
2014 Time and Space residency, Metal, Chalkwell Hall, Southend-on-Sea
2013 a-n New Collaborations Bursary with Morven Mulgrew
Inside the Forcing Shed shortlisted for the Artangel Open 100
2012 Hoo Peninsula Retreat, Kent Cultural Baton, Kent
PUBLICATIONS
2020 Women Making History, Profile Editions
2020 Feminist Art, Activisms and Artivisms, ed. Katy Deepwell, Valiz
2013 Studies in the Maternal, volume 5, issue 2, Birkbeck, University of London: Mamsie
2012 The Kent Cultural Baton Atlas of Kent by Nicole Mollett
2010 River & Cloth - Celebrating the textile heritage of Merton, edited by Clare Moloney.
SYMPOSIA
2021 A Not Unruffled Surface: Contemporary Sculpture & Dress, co-convened with the Henry Moore Institute.
2019 Thinking Drawing 1960 to Now, Courtauld Institute of Art, co-convened with Prof. Jo Applin.
EDUCATION
2004-2007 Chelsea College of Art & Design: Fine Art - Sculpture BA (Hons): 2:1
2003-2004 Camberwell College of Art & Design: Foundation Art: Distinction
1997-2001 University College London: French & History of Art BA (Hons): 2:1