Anya Gallaccio attended Kingston Polytechnic and Goldsmiths' College at the University of London, and now lives and works in London. Gallaccio has exhibited extensively, including recent solo exhibitions at the Tate Britain and at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, England. Her work is featured in numerous public and private collections such as the Tate Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, and South Gallery, London. Gallaccio creates site-specific installations, often using organic materials as her medium. Past projects have included arranging a ton of oranges on a floor, placing a thirty-two ton block of ice in a boiler room, and painting a wall with chocolate. The nature of these materials results in natural processes of transformation and decay, often with unpredictable results. Gallaccio has stated, "I see my works as being a performance and a collaboration . . . There is an unpredictability in the materials and collaborations I get involved in. Making a piece of work becomes about chance - not just imposing will on something, but acknowledging its inherent qualities."

Gallaccio's work is primarily concerned with nature, beauty and decay, often using ephemeral materials with which she references the cyclic nature of life and death. The works' multi-sensory and experimental aspects allow the viewer to engage with the rich tactile elements as well as the conceptual grounding of each piece. The works are often in a permanent state of flux, and are displayed in a variety of settings.