![](https://www.nyucuratorialcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CatherineWangMcMahonInstall1-scaled.jpg)
![Close up of wall text in situ.](https://www.nyucuratorialcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CatherineWangMcMahonInstallWall-scaled.jpg)
![painting of water flowing through rocks with trees in the background](https://www.nyucuratorialcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CatherineWangMcMahon02.jpg)
![detail of painting of water flowing through rocks](https://www.nyucuratorialcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CatherineWangMcMahon02detail.jpg)
![](https://www.nyucuratorialcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CatherineWangMcMahonInstall2-scaled.jpg)
![painting of forest, tall trees in background, ferns and other ground covering in the foreground](https://www.nyucuratorialcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CatherineWangMcMahon01.jpg)
![painting of forest, tall trees in background, ferns and other ground covering in the foreground](https://www.nyucuratorialcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CatherineWangMcMahon01detail.jpg)
Bear Creek Redwoods (Santa Cruz, CA / Awaswas Ohlone)
acrylic on canvas
92×48 inches
2021
Little Yosemite (Sunol, CA/Ohlone)
acrylic on canvas
72×42 inches
2021
In their work, Catherine Wang McMahon explores relationships and structures that exist outside of oneself. Both the pandemic and environmental disasters inspired them to get outside and discover a deepening connection to the natural world, one that they celebrate in their large-scale vertical landscapes. McMahon’s depictions of the lands around their home are soothing and softened, with bright colors that capture nature in its ideal state: undamaged and whole. They invite the viewer to enter and appreciate this fast disappearing world.
Catherine Wang McMahon’s work appears in Retro/Intro.