WORK OF THE WEEK: Edmund de Waal, landfall, 2024

Edmund de Waal
landfall
2024
Porcelain, silver, wood, steel and glass
94 x 61 x 13 cm
37 x 24 x 5 ⅛ in.

landfall has just returned from a major museum touring exhibition; Playing with Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto travelling from CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art in Denmark; Kuntsilo, Norway and finally Hepworth Wakefield in the UK. Curated by de Waal, it brought together his own work and that of acclaimed Danish ceramicist, Axel Salto. Salto was a radical polymathic figure who crossed boundaries from one discipline to another, his work was shown alongside a major new installation by de Waal reflecting on Salto’s enduring influence.

© image Alzbeta Jaresova

On the thinnest pieces of porcelain are some scraps of broken vessels, some remnants of silver. ‘Life lies lustrously behind all sorrows and will triumph’ writes Salto and I am with him at the end of this walk together. Starting again. Trying again.

- Edmund de Waal 2026, an extract from his text written to accompany the exhibition Playing with Fire

Edmund de Waal is currently exhibiting with Gana Art gallery in Seoul until 4 October 2026, bringing together new and recent works, the exhibition reflects on ideas of home and sanctuary and the migration of people, ideas and objects. It is centred around a large piece titled rain diary.

On the 1st October, at the London Library, in conversation with Kavita Puri, de Waal will discuss his book an Archive and reflect on collections and collecting – how objects are kept together, lost, stolen or dispersed and considers the meaning, purpose and materiality of archives.