Exhibition Catalogue | Holly Rhodes 'Garden Landing'

Garden Landing is an exhibition that explores boundaries, self-awareness, and the space between your own experience and another person’s perception of it. Rhodes' paintings probe at how we may be seen, observed and understood. Within the perimeters of a hortus conclusus, or enclosed garden, Rhodes reflects on the female experience in a heavenly province, home to figures who lounge within the protection of the wall and inviting greenery. Despite the sublime façade of the landscape—not unlike The Garden of Eden—the walled garden speaks of danger; its enclosure implies privacy and impenetrability. Rather, Rhodes depicts a post-paradise landscape—one that aims to recreate the original idea of Eden—in an effort to protect the female figures from harm, to maintain paradise, and nurture an inner lifeforce that once was.