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The famous naturalist, John Muir is credited with saying: “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” This show explores two dramatically different depictions of nature with the hopes that you, the viewer will find more walking through this show than you were seeking.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s Kay Sage developed a personal Surrealist style based on mysterious architectural forms in somber-colored settings. Although the forms are painted realistically, they convey an impression or feeling rather than actual objects.

Born to a wealthy, artistically inclined family in 1864, Toulouse-Lautrec is known for his vibrant, theatrical depictions of turn of the century Parisian life and the characters that made it so vivid. Many of these characters were the singers and dancers of nightclubs such as the Moulin Rouge.

I have always wanted my body to feel at home with itself, but it never quite has. Were there other people who felt the same way? If not, where was that place for them? The question is nostalgic, causing the viewer to simultaneously recall home and acknowledge that they are not there. I wanted people to feel at once present and displaced.

Whether explicit or symbolic, these works provide the opportunity to consider a world without us, how some populations are already being erased by our ways of life, and our current relationships to the land.

From the Western standpoint, his photographs were unfiltered, realistic depictions of “the Orient.” As an anthropology major, I am fascinated with how Beato’s photographs embody this cross cultural exchange and set a precedent for how the West viewed the East. 

Our movement merits contemplation. Begs it as a sign of warning or even impulse. Reading the viewers' responses I saw this again, and I saw it anew. Even while moving we are always in a position to heal, love, and acknowledge. Remembering this, especially as a product of the diaspora, carrier of colonial freight, as a person of color, is not only empowering - it is redemptive.

The contemporary artists in this show have interpreted the work of deceased artists who cannot condemn or laud the appropriation of their work. Together, these prints show how artists can reference these masterworks while acknowledging the systems of oppression they are tied to.

A nationally respected photographer with work held in museums across the country, Nagatani’s work dealt with themes of science, nuclear power, Japanese-American history, and New Mexican culture. He represented and explored these themes through otherworldly images, saturated prints and flat collages that were magical and sometimes unnerving.

Movement is a point of change. When we move - in abstract or tangible ways, voluntary or forced - we engage with the changing of place, time, people, and culture.