![Caroline Walker, Birthing Ball (detail) Caroline Walker, Birthing Ball (detail)](https://d1inegp6v2yuxm.cloudfront.net/royal-academy/image/upload/c_fill,cs_tinysrgb,dn_72,f_auto,fl_progressive.keep_iptc,w_1280,h_720,ar_16:9/f5q5gnpwdh8xl8qlnzm3.jpg)
Eight works to know from Summer Exhibition 2023
Published on 4 May 2023
Ahead of the opening of this year's Summer Exhibition, find out more about eight works which will be featured in the show.
Mercurial by Sheila Hicks
The Paris-based sculptor has made a career out of weaving the rainbow, here leaving her yarn in a freefall of colour.
![Sheila Hicks, Mercurial Sheila Hicks, Mercurial](https://d1inegp6v2yuxm.cloudfront.net/royal-academy/image/upload/c_limit,cs_tinysrgb,dn_72,f_auto,fl_progressive.keep_iptc,w_850/hrosdjmudeo0mfbohawc.jpg)
Rest in Pieces, or the Squatters... by Ryan Gander RA
Roadkill or robot? Gander’s monument to the moggie reveals the sculptor’s trickster humour.
![Ryan Gander RA, Rest in Pieces, or the Squatters (Charlie Meet Hammons' Untitled (Night Train) (1989) Ryan Gander RA, Rest in Pieces, or the Squatters (Charlie Meet Hammons' Untitled (Night Train) (1989)](https://d1inegp6v2yuxm.cloudfront.net/royal-academy/image/upload/c_limit,cs_tinysrgb,dn_72,f_auto,fl_progressive.keep_iptc,w_850/rspgbo5z3aa5eeehrrio.jpg)
Moonlight Towers by Jonah Luswata
The designer’s handmade obelisk recalls the earliest streetlamps, gaslit towers used by the Victorians to emulate the moon.
![Jonah Luswata, Moonlight Towers Jonah Luswata, Moonlight Towers](https://d1inegp6v2yuxm.cloudfront.net/royal-academy/image/upload/c_limit,cs_tinysrgb,dn_72,f_auto,fl_progressive.keep_iptc,w_850/rluy33pzkat9uvuxl3yr.jpg)
Birthing Ball by Caroline Walker
Walker’s abiding subject is the everyday lives of women, with motherhood the focus of this and other recent oils.
![Caroline Walker, Birthing Ball Caroline Walker, Birthing Ball](https://d1inegp6v2yuxm.cloudfront.net/royal-academy/image/upload/c_limit,cs_tinysrgb,dn_72,f_auto,fl_progressive.keep_iptc,w_850/qg8djq5apiedaug298eg.jpg)
Into You by Sadie Clayton
Clayton’s signature material is copper, whether folded into this sculpture of alluring reflective sheen or elsewhere gracing the human body as wearable art.
![Sadie Clayton, Into You Sadie Clayton, Into You](https://d1inegp6v2yuxm.cloudfront.net/royal-academy/image/upload/c_limit,cs_tinysrgb,dn_72,f_auto,fl_progressive.keep_iptc,w_850/mmom90qs7pkquz21jyee.jpg)
The Omicron Variations by Kara Walker Hon RA
Walker’s monumental-scale ink drawing conjures an enigmatic moonlit scene, whose central act (given the work’s title) may be one of healing.
![Kara Walker Hon RA, The Omicron Variations Kara Walker Hon RA, The Omicron Variations](https://d1inegp6v2yuxm.cloudfront.net/royal-academy/image/upload/c_limit,cs_tinysrgb,dn_72,f_auto,fl_progressive.keep_iptc,w_850/azzkbwmoagatmfhkfcob.jpg)
Outfit No. 4 by Lisa Milroy RA
An air of tight-lipped mystery pervades Milroy’s depiction of clothes, laid out as if clues in an inspection, but leading to no end.
![Lisa Milroy RA, Outfit No. 4 Lisa Milroy RA, Outfit No. 4](https://d1inegp6v2yuxm.cloudfront.net/royal-academy/image/upload/c_limit,cs_tinysrgb,dn_72,f_auto,fl_progressive.keep_iptc,w_850/veenua9aqbyvjumgqxi8.jpg)
Five Stone Wind (for John Cage) by Edmund De Waal
De Waal pays tribute to a Cage score which called for the use of clay drums, a material link between the British potter and his minimalist forebear.
![Edmund de Waal, Five Stone Wind (for John Cage) Edmund de Waal, Five Stone Wind (for John Cage)](https://d1inegp6v2yuxm.cloudfront.net/royal-academy/image/upload/c_limit,cs_tinysrgb,dn_72,f_auto,fl_progressive.keep_iptc,w_850/nh0hujudvy2czgvzme9z.jpg)
![Summer Exhibition Summer Exhibition](https://d1inegp6v2yuxm.cloudfront.net/royal-academy/image/upload/c_fill,cs_tinysrgb,dn_72,f_auto,fl_progressive.keep_iptc,w_708,h_398,ar_16:9/lugezjpqfvx5rq9ggobs.jpg)
Summer Exhibition 2023
The world’s largest open submission exhibition is back, featuring work in every medium imaginable.
This year, celebrated British painter David Remfry RA takes the reins as exhibition co-ordinator. Remfry’s Summer Exhibition will explore the theme Only Connect, taken from the famous quote in Howards End by E.M. Forster.