What’s in a location?

What’s been your favorite trip or place to visit? We have all either been asked this question or ask it when getting to know someone. Our memory takes us back to a moment in time when the world seemed to stop, and we were completely wrapped up in our surroundings. Maybe it was the time you went on a family camping trip and had that run in with a bear during the trail bike ride. Or that time you visited Santorini in Greece, and the view of the white buildings against the bluest ocean took your breath away. Photographs become the perfect conduit for reliving those memories and taking us back to that particular experience. So do mementos or souvenirs. As we get older, the souvenirs might become less top of mind, but we do look for something tangible to remind ourselves of that happy time or memory. That is why buying prints or posters from the location of an amazing trip has become so popular. When new buyers are considering a piece to adorn their walls with, decorators or consultants often ask individuals to conjure up these imaginative states to help discover their own art aesthetic. And oftentimes, buying a painting from an artist who details the beauty of one location becomes the easiest place to start.

So, what’s in a location? To help you consider this, we’re sharing 3 artists from around the world that capture the beauty of their heritage, a location, and its culture—and wrap it all up in a beautiful eyescape for you to hold on to.

Ana Gonalez Rojas Columbia

Ana is a Colombian artist, photographer, and architect. She takes a very difficult subject, that of local Colombians being displaced due to violence, and turns that story into something beautiful and reminiscent of the healing and mending that is required after a tragedy. She collaborated with one of our favorite clothing brands, Agua by Bendita, to create a linen robe printed with sketched scenes of Chiribiquete, a Colombian UNESCO natural heritage site. With these scenes she reminds us to take care of and protect our culture, heritage, and natural surroundings. Her pass i flora series is one of our favorites.

“On the other hand, I eagerly took advantage of that privilege of childhood which allows beauty, luxury, and happiness to be things that can be eaten: in the Rue Vavin I would stand transfixed before the windows of confectioners’ shops, fascinated by the luminous sparkle of candied fruits, the cloudy luster of jellies, the kaleidoscopic inflorescence of acidulated fruit-drop—green, red, orange, violet: I coveted the colors themselves as much as the pleasures they promised me.. the pink of the sweets used to shade off into exquisite nuances of color, and I would dip an eager spoon into their brilliant sunset.”

Lucy Laucht Cornwall, UK and New York, US

Lucy is a photographer who lives between the UK and New York. You might have seen her idyllic and enticing photographs in Elle, Grazia, and Goop. We first came across her photos of scenes from various Italian islands and immediately added them to our mood board. One for the nostalgia of the view (especially during these past two years), and the second for the piece we’d like to have hanging in our living room. For those who are called to the ocean and find serenity at the beach, these images will give you pause. These are transportive images that tell a story of the place and the people who live there. The ones who seek respite there, and the ones who dream to be there. Even the photos she takes of her beachside home in Cornwall, UK are dreamy. Being able to capture the soul of a place is not easy, and Lucy does it well. We also love that 10% of each print sale goes to Choose Love Help Refugees, an NGO providing humanitarian aid to, and advocacy for, refugees in Italy, Calais, Greece, Lebanon, Serbia, and the UK.

Cydne Jasmin Coleby, the Bahamas

Cydne is a mixed media collage artist based in the Bahamas. Her Bahamian roots have a strong foothold in her aesthetic and storytelling process. Like Ana, Cydne uses art as a way to represent the healing that comes after ancestral trauma. Her works have inspiration from the Caribbean and African diaspora. There is a familiarity in the vibrant colors and patterns of African wax fabric.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the use of various textures and materials in art. And all of the materials I use in my work, excluding the paint, have some connection physically and/or visually to The Bahamas. The batik wax fabric in my work is actually Bahamian. It’s called “Androsia” and it’s produced on the island of Andros—an island in which I have family roots.”

She also pays homage to her home through the use of Bahamian sand mixed in with the paint in her paintings. The beach is intrinsically linked to the Bahamian people and it is important to Cydne that the use of this sand marks this significance.

What’s in a location?

Creative rest.

Embodied Cognition