Lucy + Jorge Orta: from root to rain

Jane Lombard Gallery is pleased to announce from root to rain, marking the third solo exhibition by the artist duo Lucy + Jorge Orta. From the Amazon rainforest to the desert of Saudi Arabia, this exhibition spans painting, embroidery, tapestry, and film to examine environments shaped by ecological instability. Utilizing scientific research practices, the artists draw upon regions where natural resources are increasingly depleted, translating research and data into poetic visual forms. The exhibition will be on view at Jane Lombard Gallery from March 13th - April 25th, 2026, with an opening reception on March 13th from 6 - 8 PM. 

At the center of the exhibition are three woven tapestries, from a series of nine, recently exhibited at the British Textile Biennial. The tapestry Gaia with Pleades positions the earth goddess Gaia as both guide and witness of past and future events. The tapestries function as maps, drawing on celestial navigation and ancient cosmologies to understand humanity’s place within the natural world. The images reflect the cyclical nature of changing environments from abundance to scarcity, to conflict migration and nomadic living, and the possibility for renewal. 

The Wadi Hanifah Embroidery Landscape intertwine an abstract narrative of desert survival. The silk appliqué motifs depict plant species endemic to Wadi Hanifah, a desert valley west of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Resilient desert plants, shrubs, and trees are embroidered onto colored canvas. Each species is paired with geometric motifs derived from Al Sadu, the traditional weaving practice of Bedouin women, whose patterns encode astronomical and environmental knowledge essential to nomadic life. Through triangles and lozenge clusters referencing star formations and desert flora, the works articulate a visual language of adaptation and resilience amid accelerating urbanization and climate change.

Fabulae Naturae paintings extend the artists’ inquiry into the mythic and symbolic dimensions of nature. Enlarged petals and botanical forms dissolve into layered fields of saturated pigment, hovering between figuration and abstraction. Flowers hold a myriad of meanings, from medicinal and culinary uses, to poetic and cultural emblems. Since the Ortas’ first expedition to the Amazon in 2009, the practice of rendering flowers has served as source material and inspiration. The resulting Fabulae Naturae paintings reveal up-close, magnified details of species from their vast visual database. Works from the series are accompanied by a Certificate of Stewardship, each linked to a precise one-by-one-meter plot of rainforest, underscoring the artists’ commitment to ecological responsibility.

Also from the series Amazonia, a film and three embroidered panels with lines of poetry situate the exhibition within the artists’ broader, decades-long investigation of interwoven ecosystems. Lucy + Jorge collaborated with eco-poet Mario Petrucci to create the audio-poem ‘Amazonia’ for the film, drawing from footage the artists recorded on their expedition to witness the effects of climate change on the Amazon rainforest. The narrated poem evokes the interconnectedness of all things, mourning species lost to extractivism while immersing the viewer in an ecologically vital biosphere through howler monkeys, birds, insects, and flowing rivers. Alongside the floral paintings and narrative tapestries, the video provides an embodied sensorial experience, grounding the exhibition in the reality of interwoven living systems.

Through textiles, paintings, poetry, and film, from root to rain presents a meditation on species and the accelerating transformations of our natural world. The interlacing of mediums throughout the exhibition mirrors the interconnectedness of environmental systems, offering a visual reflection on coexistence, fragility, and the urgent need for ecological care.