Observances

Photo based artists Nikki Baxendale & Majid Mohamadi turn their lenses to document the special places & creatures that comprise our vast world & our relationship to it.

Nikki Baxendale is a West Vancouver based environmental artist. This collection A World Seen: Studies in Belonging, brings together photography, painting & mixed media from across her practice. Created through years of fieldwork in some of the world's most fragile & extraordinary environments, these works move from oceans & forests to elephants bears, coastal wolves & the Arctic. Baxendale's work begins with close observation.

Time spent in the field, waiting quietly for an animal to reveal itself within its environment, becomes the starting point for each piece. Photography records the encounter. Painting & mixed media allow memory, emotion & interpretation to enter the conversation. Her subjects exist within complex systems of family, place, movement & survival. Together, these works explore connection between species, between generations, & between people & the natural world.

At the heart of the exhibition sits a simple question: what changes when we stop seeing nature as something outside ourselves and begin to understand that we belong within it?

Majid Mohamadi is a fine art photographer & commercial pilot based in West Vancouver. His journey as an artist comes from a deep love for nature & a lifetime of travel. As a pilot, his view of the world was shaped by flying over many different landscapes from vast prairies to the Pacific coast. On the ground, he connects with nature by backpacking & taking long hikes through deep forests, dry deserts & high mountains.

His photos are quiet, simple & peaceful capturing the still moments he finds in the wild. Creating these works are his way to stand still, notice the quiet beauty of the world & share feelings that are hard to put into words. Mohamadi's minimal, high-contrast imagery deconstructs traditional landscapes, transforming trees, clouds, & horizons into "inner landscapes" reflecting his impressions & experiences.

Ultimately, his work is guided by a simple truth: we don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.

Presented by West Vancouver Community Arts Council & Kay Meek Arts Centre.

Exhibition spans both floors of the Kay Meek's theatre lobbies. Viewing Hours: Tuesday-Friday from 10am-4pm, during Kay Meek events.