LaKela Brown

Lakela Brown (born 1982, Detroit, MI) is a contemporary sculptor and mixed-media artist whose work celebrates Black culture through bold, tactile forms. Known for her signature plaster reliefs featuring bamboo earrings, rope chains, hair beads, and other iconic symbols of Black style, Brown transforms objects of everyday adornment into monuments of cultural memory. Her work bridges sculpture, printmaking, and collage, often foregrounding motifs linked to 1980s and 1990s hip-hop aesthetics and Black girlhood. Brown’s practice is rooted in honoring the visual language, textures, and materials of the communities that shaped her, translating them into elegant, graphic compositions. She has exhibited at galleries and institutions across the U.S. and internationally, including solo and group exhibitions at ICA San Francisco, Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), Reyes | Finn, and Lisa Yuskavage Studio Projects. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.