The virtual exhibition is hosted on Artavita and can be viewed here:
https://www.artavita.com/virtual_exhibitions/1e426691-903f-4a8f-823a-5b220aea9a25
Aging Soul, Aging Earth: On Climate Change, Time, and the Vulnerable Body
by Laura Bernardeschi Nelson
My new solo exhibition, Aging Soul, Aging Earth, grows directly out of my book of the same title. Both the book and the paintings are grounded in a shared inquiry: how the aging of the human self and the aging of the planet mirror one another, and how environmental conditions shape not only ecosystems but also the way we age, feel, and remember.
This exhibition is not conceived as an illustration of climate change, but as a reflection on it as a lived condition. Climate change unfolds slowly, often invisibly, accumulating effects over time. Aging follows a similar logic. It is rarely a single moment of rupture; rather, it is a gradual layering of experience, loss, adaptation, and endurance. In this sense, the Earth and the human body are bound by a common temporal rhythm.
Landscape as an Inner Space
In these paintings, landscapes function less as descriptive places and more as emotional and psychological fields. Erosion, instability, and altered atmospheres echo the internal experience of aging—both individual and collective. Cracks, shifts, and softened contours suggest not only environmental stress but also memory, vulnerability, and persistence.
I am interested in how environmental degradation accelerates forms of physical and psychological aging: polluted air, extreme temperatures, and ecological uncertainty leave marks on the body just as they scar the land. The environment is not a backdrop to our lives; it is an active participant in how we grow older.
Accumulation Rather Than Catastrophe
Formally, the works rely on layered surfaces, restrained gestures, and subtle tonal shifts. These choices reflect a belief that change—whether environmental or personal—happens through accumulation. The Earth, like the self, carries its history within it. Every layer holds traces of what came before, even when partially obscured.
By avoiding overt spectacle, the paintings ask for sustained attention. They resist the visual language of crisis in favor of quiet insistence, mirroring how climate change and aging often operate beneath the threshold of immediate alarm.
Ethics of Care and Attention
At the core of Aging Soul, Aging Earth is an ethical proposition. To pay attention—to look closely at what is changing, degrading, or becoming fragile—is an act of responsibility. Care, whether for the planet or for aging bodies, begins with acknowledgment.
This exhibition invites viewers to consider how neglect and endurance coexist, and how awareness can become a form of resistance. In recognizing parallels between environmental decline and human vulnerability, we may begin to imagine more compassionate ways of inhabiting time.
The virtual exhibition is hosted on Artavita and can be viewed here:
https://www.artavita.com/virtual_exhibitions/1e426691-903f-4a8f-823a-5b220aea9a25
Aging Soul, Aging Earth is ultimately a meditation on coexistence—between body and land, memory and matter, care and responsibility—before what is fragile disappears.
Laura Bernardeschi Nelson artworld and travels 