michele bosak projects

Landscapes are far more than physical terrains—they are layered spaces shaped by history, culture, memory, and the individuals who inhabit them. Whether reflecting nature, artifacts, or aesthetics, landscapes carry the imprints of time and context, revealing how people and environments are mutually transformative. The artists featured in Cultural Landscapes approach these ideas through lenses of identity, material culture, and the digital realm, interrogating how physical and metaphorical landscapes become sites of self-expression and collective meaning. Their works explore deeply personal connections to place and time while engaging with broader social, political, and cultural constructs that influence how we perceive and define the world. Ebitenyefa Baralaye examines themes of diaspora and materiality, grounding his work in African and Caribbean cultural traditions. Carlos Diaz captures moments of intimacy and resistance within urban and suburban spaces, blending documentary and personal perspectives. Zackary Drucker investigates the shifting landscapes of gender and queer identity through multimedia storytelling, while Shilpa Gupta interrogates borders and the invisible structures that govern human interaction. Jiha Moon blends East Asian iconography with American pop culture, creating hybridized visual landscapes, while Devan Shimoyama's lush, shimmering portraits celebrate Blackness and queerness in a magical, transcendent way. Alexandria Smith explores memory and identity through surreal, dreamlike narratives, and Ryan Trecartin's frenetic video works blur the boundaries between digital landscapes and real-world experience. Together, these artists offer compelling insights into how landscapes—geographical, cultural, or virtual—are constructed, contested, and reimagined. By sharing intimate narratives and examining cultural artifacts, they reflect their communities' values, tensions, and aspirations. Through their work, Cultural Landscapes invites viewers to consider how our individual and collective identities are deeply intertwined with the spaces we inhabit and the histories we carry forward.