The exhibition Haptic Earth unites the conceptual sculptural works of Azucena Trejo with the intuitive painting and sculptural practice of Nathaniel Hendrickson, presenting a dialogue centered on the transitional, fragmented, and abstract nature of subjects and objects. This duo showcase navigates the materiality of transition, compression and release through states of flux, revealing the dynamic interplay between the tangible and the intangible. Exhibition dates: February 8 - March 2, 2025.
My current creative practice centers on moments of slowness and attunement with the natural world, particularly what David Abram calls "the more-than-human world." As a cancer survivor, I’ve developed a profound relationship with the sun, recognizing its healing and life-sustaining power. This experience has naturally led me to explore species that depend on sunlight for survival, particularly flowers and their complex, alluring functions.
Flowers fascinate me not only for their aesthetic beauty but for their biological role as intermediaries between species, seducing pollinators through vibrant colors, scents, and intricate patterns to ensure their procreation. I see this act of seduction as both a metaphor and a point of reflection on themes of visibility, survival, and transformation. These ideas have become increasingly central to my work as I navigate personal experiences, including gender-affirming hormone therapy.
This journey has heightened my sensitivity to themes of camouflage, concealment, and adaptive transformation—concepts that nature demonstrates elegantly. I find inspiration in the subtle and overt ways organisms adapt to their environments, sometimes blending in for protection, other times standing out to attract. This duality mirrors aspects of my own lived experience and finds expression in my practice through layered imagery, botanical references, and symbolic figurative forms.
Through painting, multimedia installations, and sensory engagements, I seek to capture these narratives of connection, transformation, and resilience. My work invites viewers to pause, reflect, and experience moments of attunement with both themselves and the more-than-human world. By exploring intersections between personal identity, ecological systems, and survival strategies, I aim to construct a poetic space where stories of adaptation, beauty, and the dance of revealed/concealment unfold.