A World Seen: Studies in Belonging
By Nikki Baxendale
My work is rooted in witnessing extraordinary moments in the natural world and bringing them closer to others. From coastal wolves, spirit bears and soaring eagles in British Columbia to glaciers, oceans and wildlife beyond, I seek out fleeting moments of beauty that few people ever experience firsthand. Within a single frame, painting or mixed-media work, my aim is simple: to help the viewer see, feel and fall in love with the world we share.
November 11th to 29th
Artist pARTy: Saturday November 14th from 6 to 8 pm
ARTIST STATEMENT
A World Seen: Studies in Belonging
brings together photography, painting and mixed media from across Nikki Baxendale’s practice.
Created through years of fieldwork in some of the world’s most fragile and extraordinary environments, the exhibition moves from oceans and forests to elephants, eagles, bears, wild horses, coastal wolves and the Arctic.
Rather than presenting these subjects as separate bodies of work, the exhibition draws them together through one central idea: belonging.
Baxendale’s work begins with close observation. Time spent in the field, often waiting quietly for an animal to reveal itself within its environment, becomes the starting point for each piece. Photography records the encounter. Painting and mixed media allow memory, emotion and interpretation to enter.
Across the exhibition, animals are not presented as symbols removed from their landscapes. They exist within complex systems of family, place, movement and survival. A herd carries inherited knowledge. A wolf moves between forest and tide. A bear emerges from a coastal landscape shaped by water. Trees hold time. Oceans shift constantly. Arctic ice speaks to both beauty and vulnerability.
Together, these works explore connection between species, between generations, and between people and the natural world.
At the heart of the exhibition sits a simple question: what changes when we stop seeing nature as something outside ourselves and begin to understand that we belong within it?
A World Seen is both an observation and an invitation. To look closely. To feel connection. To fall in love with the living world, and through that connection, to value its protection.
Nikki Baxendale is a British-born, Vancouver-based multidisciplinary environmental artist working across photography, painting, mixed media and writing. Her practice is shaped by long-term field research in remote landscapes and by a sustained interest in the relationship between people, wildlife and place.
Before dedicating herself to fine art, Baxendale spent more than thirty years as an international creative director, leading global design teams and developing visual identities across New York, London, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Vancouver. This background continues to influence the way she composes, edits and builds visual narratives.
A pivotal assignment documenting communities for the American Red Cross following Hurricane Sandy marked a turning point in her career. The experience shifted her attention toward the natural world and the stories held within landscapes shaped by change.
Her fieldwork has since taken her from the Arctic and the Himalayas to Nepal, Newfoundland and the rainforests, coastlines and wilderness of British Columbia.
Each body of work begins with extensive research and time spent observing in the field. Photography often becomes the first record of an encounter, later evolving in the studio through painting, mixed media and writing.
Baxendale’s work has been exhibited internationally and is held in private collections across North America and Europe. She is represented by galleries in Vancouver, Newfoundland, London and New York.
ABOUT
ABOUT THE WORK
My work begins with witnessing.
Years spent living, travelling and working across different parts of the world have shaped how I see the relationship between people, wildlife and the environments we share. Today, I bring that perspective into photography, painting and mixed media, searching for moments of extraordinary beauty that often exist far beyond everyday view.
Few people will ever stand six feet from a wild coastal wolf, watch a spirit bear emerge from a rainforest, see an eagle rise overhead, or stand before a glacier as it shifts and breaks into the sea. These encounters are fleeting. My role is to find them, hold them, and bring the feeling of that moment back with me.
This exhibition centres on British Columbia and the remarkable wildness found along its coast, forests and waters, while also reaching beyond to landscapes and species that have shaped my wider practice.
I often think of the phrase, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” but first, beauty has to be found.
Whether through a photograph, a painting or a layered mixed-media work, I aim to create a moment of connection. If a viewer falls in love with what they see, they may also feel a stronger desire to protect it.