Peace is calling
Far beneath, here.
peace is callng: Walking the tightrope of seasonal metamorphosis
22 january – 06 March 2026
‘Peace Is Calling’ emerges from Chelsea Young’s sustained relationship with the natural environment and the seasonal shifts that shape it. Living and working in close proximity to the vastness of the African bush, the artist remains in continual dialogue with her surroundings, particularly the arrival of the summer rains. As the first storms break, the land softens, seeds begin to stir beneath the surface, and the earth seems to exhale as life returns. These moments of transformation are both observed and inwardly felt, becoming metaphors for personal grounding and settling. The paintings arise from this closeness, carrying the quiet rhythm of renewal.
Young’s practice is guided by an acute sensitivity to light and seasonal change. The work is allowed to remain loose, free, and rhythmic, responding instinctively to the natural cycles that unfold around her. Each painting emerges almost as an impulse, yet this is not a forceful act; rather, it is an attentiveness that reveals itself gradually, akin to shifting weather patterns. This cyclical process of making suggests that while the work flows outward from the artist, it simultaneously draws her closer to the qualities sensed in nature, openness, patience, and quiet awareness.
Though deeply rooted in lived experience, the paintings are not confined to a single geographic location. Elements such as dust, heat, wind, and rain speak to a broader understanding of nature as something to be inhabited rather than observed from a distance. These sensations are breathed in, carried, and known from within, through a language of softness. Here, gentleness is not a retreat, but a way of remaining present.
‘Peace Is Calling’ opens a contemplative space, an inward mode of seeing guided by the natural world. Peace is not announced or imposed; it is perceived quietly, as an invitation, a subtle calling.
The Artist
Chelsea Young’s practice is shaped by an attentiveness to the relationship between stillness and movement in the natural world. Drawn to the subtle, dynamic energies that surround living systems. Before beginning a painting, she experiences a strong intuitive pull to create a space of calm and gentleness. These works arise from fleeting moments of tranquillity encountered in nature, moments that linger until they are translated onto the canvas.
Once completed, each painting takes on a life of its own thus igniting a continual cycle of discovery which in turn drives Young’s creative process.
Born in Africa, she maintains a deep connection to the continent and its landscapes. Regions such as the Masai Mara, the Okavango Delta, Table Mountain, and the Kruger National Park and their environments and communities that exist within them, remain central to her practice. As she continues to travel across Africa, her work seeks to reveal the quiet omnipresence that lies beneath its vast, dynamic terrains.
Her paintings offer gentle reminders of stillness, rest, and the possibility of inner unity, the quiet calling for peace.
Each painting arrives almost like an impulse, but rather than this being forceful, it is an attentiveness that unfolds, much like weather patterns