Environment, Nature, and Sacred Landscapes
This story explores the transformational power of nature—from dreamlike seascapes to intimate terrains—reflecting renewal, memory, and a deep connection to place.
Salmon River Valley (2023) by Kay Walkingstick Shah Garg Foundation
Ancestral connection to land
Kay WalkingStick's Salmon River Valley
(2023) merges her Native heritage with her view of the land as a living, spiritual entity. Through her rich brushwork, the valley is not just a physical place—it’s a narrative of ancestry, memory, and culture.
Salmon River Valley
The piece invites viewers to reflect on their own connection to land and place. WalkingStick's landscapes celebrate the enduring bond between people and nature, honoring a view that land itself holds ancestors within it.
Roussée (1970/80) by Magdalena Abakanowicz Shah Garg Foundation
Monumental presence of nature
Magdalena Abakanowicz's sculptural practice merges raw materials with organic forms, reflecting a deep, elemental connection to the earth.
Inside the fiber of transformation — Roussée
Roussée
(YEAR) highlights Abakanowicz's ability to transform ordinary materials into something profoundly elemental. The large scale, rich texture, and earthy color reflect a deep understanding of nature’s form and soul, blurring the boundary between art and environment.
Lip (2022) by Francesca Mollett Shah Garg Foundation
Abstracted landscapes and layered textures
Francesca Mollett’s Lip
(2022) evokes fragmented, subterranean landscapes through layered oil and acrylic on calico. Its rich textures and collage-like structure explore natural patterns and shifting states of consciousness.
Nature, body & hydrofeminism
Inspired by lichen and hydrofeminism, Mollett’s work connects water, body, and environment. Lip reflects cycles of creation and adaptability, with visual metaphors for interconnectedness and a fluid, evolving relationship to place.
Jen's House (2021) by Hilary Pecis Shah Garg Foundation
Everyday spaces transformed
Hilary Pecis turns domestic scenes into vivid, sunlit paintings, celebrating the intimacy of lived environments and the quiet beauty found in ordinary places.
Light and stillness in the home
Her bold use of color and perspective invites viewers to see familiar spaces anew, blending environment with memory and emotion in rich visual narratives.
Beyond the Mangroves (2024) by Jemima Murphy Shah Garg Foundation
Dreamscapes beyond the mangroves
FIRST NAME Murphy’s immersive landscapes blur human presence and nature, evoking sacred, liminal spaces that highlight our deep connection to and dependence on the environment.
Nature as living memory
Through layered textures and ethereal light, Murphy captures the fragile beauty of mangrove ecosystems, inviting reflection on ecological preservation and loss.
Window Series #4 (1973) by Mary Obering Shah Garg Foundation
Light as sacred medium
In Window Series #4
(1973), Mary Obering uses pure form and color to illuminate a view into a timeless, elemental world. Her careful application of oil and geometry transforms the canvas into a “window”— framing light, space, and serenity—a view into nature's hidden order.
Nature's hidden order
The rich, earthy tones and precise structure illuminate an understanding of light and color as literal components of the natural world.
Migration (1998) by Suzanne Jackson Shah Garg Foundation
Migration
Suzanne Jackson’s Migration
(1998) parallels her journeys from Saint Louis to San Francisco, Alaska, and Savannah — landscapes that profoundly shaped her art and sense of place.
Nature, memory, and movement
Her abstract canvases celebrate movement, memory, and the natural world—honoring both her geographic roots and the power of migration to transform an artistic view.
Catalyst (2023) by Takako Yamaguchi Shah Garg Foundation
Syncretic landscapes
Takako Yamaguchi’s Catalyst
(2023) merges Japanese screens, Mexican muralism, and European traditions. Her seascapes become rich, hybrid spaces—challenging pure abstraction and blending multiple histories.
Ocean, horizon, transformation
Yamaguchi plays with elemental motifs— water, clouds, rain—and a dramatic horizon. Gold leaf, color, and texture illuminate her landscapes, turning nature into a site of transformation and renewal.
Untitled by Ione Saldanha Shah Garg Foundation
Brazilian modernism and tradition
FIRST NAME Saldanha’s art bridges Brazilian Modernism and traditional craft, blending bamboo’s cultural significance with modern abstraction to create a dialogue between heritage and contemporary practice.
Natural materials and form
Untitled
(ca. 1960s) merges acrylic paint with bamboo, emphasizing the dialogue between natural materials and crafted form. The work reflects a reverence for organic textures and the tactile presence of nature.
Untitled (#118) (ca. 1975) by Miyoko Ito Shah Garg Foundation
Miyoko Ito
Miyoko Ito’s Untitled (#118)
, YEAR, merges abstract form with traces of landscapes, interiors, and the human body—reflecting her unique influences of Cubism and Chicago’s surrealism.
Chicago's subtle Surrealist influence
“Chicago gave me a sense of surrealism,” Ito once said, adding, “although it is not that obvious." Ito insisted her surroundings profoundly influenced her. Her abstract paintings become dreamlike spaces that connect body, place, and imagination.
Curation and Text by Sarah Daoui. Edited by Lauren O'Neill-Butler.
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