Talia Sullivan thesis exhibition: 'Where We Belong'

In her M.F.A. thesis exhibition Where We Belong, Talia Sullivan presents gestural paintings and intricate embroidery works that examine the sublime, particularly the tension between human physicality and overwhelming spatial vastness. Inspired by her own enduring connection to Dartmoor National Park, an expansive nature reserve in southwest England frequented by the artist that seemingly extends from another part of the world, Sullivan crafts luscious vistas dotted with abstracted figures, creating indistinct yet familiar scenes in which the boundaries between body, memory, and environment begin to dissolve.

Moving between abstraction and representation, Sullivan considers how landscapes are felt as much as they are seen. Her use of gesture and repetition further accentuates the bodily sensations of scale, vulnerability, and immersion within expansive natural environments. Figures emerge and blur into the landscape through layered, vigorous mark-making, destabilizing distinctions between person and terrain. Memories from travel elsewhere also move in and out of the paintings, creating a juxtaposition between the familiarity of home and the sense of foreignness encountered within unfamiliar territory. Through her chosen mediums, Sullivan revisits these environments not as fixed locations but as embodied experiences shaped by movement, atmosphere, and sensation. Ultimately, Where We Belong seeks to translate the quiet immensity of the natural world and the transformative experience of encountering something far larger than oneself.

Opening reception: Friday, Sept. 25, 5–7 p.m.

The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.