Emerging Artist To Watch: Makiko Harris

Artist Makiko Harris has unveiled an ambitious 2026 programme that spans major UK public institutions and international galleries.

The year opens with her selection for New Contemporaries 2026, the UKs premier showcase for emerging talent which opened at South London Gallery in January, before heading to MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) from early May.

This selection serves as the springboard for a year that moves from the evolution of her Needle Dance project to a solo exhibition of new work at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Florida, in September and culminates in a London group show in November. Further projects yet to be confirmed will be announced throughout the year.

Working across sculpture, installation, painting. film and performance, Makiko Harris’s practice explores gender, identity and structures of power.

Transforming symbols historically associated with femininity – including needles, nails and stockings – into monumental forms, her work examines feminist resistance, bodily autonomy and intergenerational connection

ABOUT MAKIKO HARRIS

Makiko Harris is a Japanese American interdisciplinary artist working across painting, sculpture, installation, film and sound.

Her practice transforms symbols historically associated with femininity – including nails. needles and stockings – into monumental forms that explore feminism, bodily autonomy and intergenerational connection.

Her first artist film premiered at Tate Modern as part of the Tate Lates series in 2023, and her ongoing Needle Dance project expanded in 2025 to include an underwater conceptual film presented at artotel London Hoxton, further developing her interest in movement, collaboration and embodied experience.

Harris has received significant recognition for her work, including major prizes, grants and residencies, and has been shortlisted for several leading UK art awards. Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including Dulwich Picture Gallery. Villa Schöningen and Kunstverein Wolfsburg, and now joins the New Contemporaries 2026 programme with work presented at South London Gallery and MIMA.

Her work is held in collections including The Bunker Museum (Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection), Florida. Harris earned her MAin Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art and her BA in Philosophy and Studio Art from Tufts University. She is represented by Kristin Hellegjerde Gallery and lives and works inLondon.