Before we begin, I should warn you. Every portrait—and I do mean every portrait I show you in this post—is made out of yarn.
“Arsimmer, 2025″
This is going to be hard to believe at times. When a moment of doubt washes over you, which it inevitably will, give the photo a quick zoom-in and see the stitches for yourself.
I’ve been in a creative slump. This happens every once in a while, and I’ve realized that when that happens there is very little I can do to force myself out of it. One thing that works pretty much every time is an infusion of inspiration in the form of a field trip. Even better if that infusion includes yarn.
Samantha in front of “City Boys, 2025”
So on a blustery winter day, I pulled myself out of my hobbit hole and popped into the city to catch the Kandy G Lopez exhibition at the ACA Galleries on 10th Avenue, just beyond the shadow of the High Line in NYC.
I’ve been a big fan of Kandy’s work for a while now. I came across her on social media, and it’s been incredible to watch her career grow from afar. Kandy is an Afro-Caribbean portrait artist who uses yarn and fabric as her mediums. Like me, she is also from New Jersey. But, somehow, this was my first time seeing her work in person.
“Yani, 2025”
Something you can’t quite grasp on social media is the pure scale of her work in person. Her fiber portraits are larger than life. Some are seven or eight feet tall. Her subjects feel like at any moment they might decide to step off of the canvas to join you in the gallery. Some even have their feet dangling off of the edges as if they are thinking about doing just that.
The level of detail in these portraits is incredible. Every shadow is represented by a different yarn shade or stitch technique.
Kandy incorporates gold and metallic threads to represent chains and earrings, which dangle off of the canvas. I could stand in front of her work for hours, and each minute discover something I hadn’t seen on the first look.
A subject whose tattoos peek out from under his shirt. The texture on the bottom of a shoe sewn in a different direction to show depth. The links of a gold chain rendered in metallic thread. Kandy’s work is a marvel in yarn.
The exhibition, Textile Truths: Faces of Resilience, explores the connection between textiles and communities of color through themes of strength, vulnerability, courage, and perseverance. Her innovative “fiber paintings” blur the lines between painting and textile art. Standing in front of them, you can’t help but rethink the boundaries that have been imposed on both mediums.
The centerpiece works—”City Girls” and “City Boys”—are being shown together for the first time. Both are multi-figure compositions, each depicting seven larger-than-life figures. Standing in front of them, you feel the weight of what it means to be seen and to take up space in a room.
“Justice, 2025”
Maybe it’s because my mind is still on the Faith Ringgold exhibition from last month, but no sooner had I remembered that Faith Ringgold once said that her work was “paintings in the medium of quilting,” when I turned the corner into the next room to see two Faith Ringgold quilts peeking out.
The crossover makes complete sense. Two talented artists who found their voice through fiber across different decades. Both assert that textiles belong in the same conversation as “fine art,” then thoroughly prove their point.
What can be created with yarn will never cease to amaze me.
When I made my way back out to the cold New York street, I walked away with a full inspiration tank and a massive amount of respect for Kandy G Lopez.
The exhibition will be on view again Feb. 3 through March 7, 2026, at 529 West 20th Street, 5th Floor, New York. If you have the chance, run—don’t walk—to see these in person.
Header image: “City Girls, 2025.”
