Who is in Hand to Hand?

Odessa Lamarr (story quilts) and Kofi Abernathy (sculpture from salvaged materials).

Are the flowers real?

Yes. The garden in Open Gates is watered daily for the run of the show.

← EXHIBITS

§ EXHIBIT · THE LEIMERT ROOM

Hand to Hand.

Quilts, salvage and the things we keep

ON VIEW: Oct 24 to Jan 9, 2027
VENUE: The Leimert Room, Degnan Blvd, Leimert Park, Los Angeles, CA
HOURS: Thursday to Sunday, 12 to 7.
ADMISSION: Free. Suggested donation $5.
ERA: 2026

§ THE SHORT VERSION

Hand to Hand is a show of new work by Odessa Lamarr and Kofi Abernathy at The Leimert Room (Degnan Blvd, Leimert Park, Los Angeles, CA), on view October 24, 2026 to January 9, 2027. Admission: Free. Suggested donation $5.

A two-person show pairing Odessa Lamarr's story quilts with Kofi Abernathy's sculpture from salvage. Denim, rivets and church satin on the walls; rebar, rims, tile and security gates on the floor.

WHY TOGETHER

Lamarr is a retired school nurse in Inglewood who quilts her family's clothes into the story of the Great Migration. Abernathy is a welder from Watts who builds in the spirit of the Towers. They met at this gallery's open call and found they were making the same argument in different materials.

The works.

6 PIECES

§ ARTWORK

Northbound

Culture · 2025

§ ARTWORK

§ QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK

Who is in Hand to Hand?: Odessa Lamarr (story quilts) and Kofi Abernathy (sculpture from salvaged materials).
Are the flowers real?: Yes. The garden in Open Gates is watered daily for the run of the show.

DO NOT MISS

Open Gates (Garden), eleven security gates with roses and marigolds growing through them, watered every morning of the show. Then Denim Sky, One Light On, made from twenty-two pairs of a husband's work jeans.

BRING THE KIDS

There is a quilting table in the back on Saturdays. Bring a piece of clothing that means something and Odessa will show you how to start.

A note: the artists in this show are demo personas created for the Knect preview, the gallery is fictional and the work was generated with Higgsfield AI.

§ CURATOR’S NOTE
“One of them sews by hand and the other welds. Both of them make art out of what a family wore out or a block threw away, and both of them finish the work with something alive: a lit window in denim, a rose through an iron gate.”