Jill O'Bryan making a Desert Frottage.

Photo: Alison Sirico

Jill O'Bryan divides her time between New York City and the wide-open landscapes of New Mexico. Her work maps the resonances that emerge through dynamic and meditative interactions with the elements of nature, which she approaches not as subjects, but as collaborators in the creation of the artwork itself.

Her Breath Drawings are created during breathing meditations, recording duration, attention, and the movement of air through the body. Breathing into the Moon paintings emerge from contemplative periods spent with the moon. The Desert Frottages are large-scale graphite rubbings made directly from the land, carrying the textures and physical traces of the earth into the work. In the Element Paintings, O’Bryan is guided by Buddhist color iconography: blue for sky, yellow for earth, green for water, and red for fire.

Across these bodies of work, Jill O'Bryan uses her body as an instrument of touch through which to collaborate with the elements of nature, creating durational and process-based works rooted in attention, reciprocity, and ecological awareness.