my new build! 
akeylah wellington

April 18 – May 30, 2026
Opening: Saturday, April 18, 5–9 PM

SHED Projects presents my new build!, an in-progress, research-based installation by Columbus-based artist akeylah wellington.

Approaching the role of builder, wellington develops an evolving architectural structure using experimental materials and techniques. Drawing from building traditions across Haiti, the Caribbean, and the broader Southern diaspora, the work examines how cultural knowledge continues to shape and adapt forms such as the shotgun house.

Rather than presenting a finished object, my new build! unfolds as one phase of an ongoing project. wellington constructs and reclassifies materials—working with pony beads, sequins, and other craft elements as both structural and symbolic components—creating a living framework that reflects on memory, labor, and inheritance.

Installed within SHED’s domestic architecture, the work enters into direct dialogue with the house itself. In this context, the project operates as a living sculpture—one that mirrors SHED as both a home and a conceptual space, allowing the work to remain open, in-process, and responsive.

Through this investigation, wellington engages questions of home ownership, economics, and the realities facing younger generations today, while also considering how spaces can be built to hold care, safety, and healing.