Salt Ledger
Cast iron, salt and very little light. Hessa N. makes heavy things that end in a line, and asks how long a material takes to change its mind.
Each sculpture in Salt Ledger begins as a mass of cast iron the weight of a person and ends as a line no thicker than a pencil. The thick ends are packed in salt from the eastern flats and left to work. Over the four months of the exhibition the salt will draw rust up through the metal, and the room will keep a record of it.
That record is the ledger of the title. A technician photographs every work at the same hour each Thursday, and the prints are pinned to the wall by the door in a long, slowly darkening row. Visitors who come back are encouraged to compare.
“How long does a material take to change its mind?”
Hessa N. developed the work during her residency in 2023, when she spent most of twelve weeks in the library reading about old weights and measures. The reader that accompanies the show collects those notes alongside a new essay and is free to take home.
In the halls
Installation views. Use the arrow keys on the thumbnails to move through them.
Works
All works 2026 unless noted. The weekly photographs are by the Kashida technical team.
| No. | Artist | Title | Year | Material |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Hessa N. | Ledger I | 2026 | Cast iron, salt |
| 02 | Hessa N. | Ledger II | 2026 | Cast iron, salt |
| 03 | Hessa N. | Ledger III | 2026 | Cast iron, salt |
| 04 | Hessa N. | Ledger IV | 2026 | Cast iron, salt, ultramarine |
| 05 | Hessa N. | Weight of a word | 2024 | Iron filings on paper |
| 06 | Hessa N. | The Thursday wall | 2026 | Photographs, ongoing |
| 07 | Hessa N. | Reader | 2026 | Printed matter, free |
Around the show
Talks, workshops and walks tied to this exhibition. Most are free; all need a reservation.
