The natural world is central to any consideration of well-being. The environment embraces well-being of the individual, kin, and community, and transcends them. These works express the variety of relations between nature and culture, human and non-human, and the world as macrocosm. Foregrounding nature is paradoxical, however, because in depicting nature, the human presence as artist or viewer becomes inescapable. The reciprocal relationship between the natural world and human well-being is more complicated than its role as the object of our making or gaze. In providing our most basic needs—water, food, and shelter—the natural environment is fundamental to human existence. For most cultures, it has been central to spiritual well-being. The sublimity of nature has inspired a variety of spiritual movements which emphasize harmony between human and environmental well-being. Moreover, the land itself and the creatures on it have their own right to exist; as such, we have chosen certain works that decenter (or expose the threats of) the human to allow for this perspective.

Tori Erisman '22

Brianna Gettier '22

Stephan Zhou '23