CHICAGO, IL.- The Art Institute of Chicago announces Abigail Lucien: Blood of the Earth, on view now through January 25, 2027. This solo exhibition presents a series of new sculptural works by Haitian American artist Abigail Lucien, and explores the ways that iron connects us to histories, the material world, and each other.

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Lucien has long been fascinated by iron, a mineral born from the explosion of stars that is essential to our daily lives. Found in the Earth’s molten core, human blood, everyday objects, and the built environment, iron is a versatile material that permeates the world around us. In Lucien’s artistic practice, it also provides a way to acknowledge craft traditions and diasporic experiences, finding inspiration in the ornate iron gates and grilles that adorn buildings in the Caribbean and in the iron forge as a sacred space of creation in Africa.

“Lucien’s rigorous engagement with iron’s malleability opens up a compelling worldview, illuminating multiscalar connections between the past, present, and future,” says Irene Sunwoo, John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design. “We are thrilled to support Lucien’s ambitious project and we hope that their material experimentation and artistic vision inspires visitors to find a renewed synergy with the world around them.”





Conceived as an active metalsmithing workshop, Lucien’s immersive installation features newly commissioned works that demonstrate a range of processes including casting, welding, forging, and etching. Several of these pieces were fabricated in collaboration with the foundry at the Sculpture Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Together, the works in the exhibition—including a furnace, bellows, anvil, and other tools—poetically explore iron’s alchemical transformations as a conceptual framework for understanding the mutable nature of belonging.

Abigail Lucien: Blood of the Earth is curated by Irene Sunwoo, John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design.