Ghosts of Smoke and Water
November 1st, 2025 — Februrary 3rd, 2026
Wave Pool invites you to “Ghosts of Smoke and Water,” an exhibition by Abby Ahrens and Leila Denbow that dwells in the space between memory and material. The artists will transform our Camp Washington gallery into an installation of hand-sewn tapestries, handwoven sculptures from found fabrics, a maypole, photographs, and an intimate reading nook.
Denbow’s meticulous hand-stitching and embroidery speaks to a history of touch, while Ahrens’s fabric-weaving, a skill learned from a basketweaver, rebuilds and reconsiders discarded materials. Together, their work unearths the poignant histories of objects—traces of how they have been loved, cut, burned, and neglected — and how that is not so different from memories. This exhibition reflects the two artists' deep and resilient friendship, a bond that allows them to interweave their individual experiences with memory, positive and painful, into a singular, resonant narrative.
Their work is described in the following prose:
What came before and what exists now live on the same plane
Dust and flesh and love and smoke and water
Learning, gratitude
Everything made is made to teach
We are celebrating inside our work! Can you hear us laughing in the stitches? Can you see us wrapped around each other?
We have melted into the past and become it
