Nancy Baker Cahill is an artist and filmmaker who explores themes of power, nature and environmental awareness. Her approach to art has traditional drawing with technology, specifically in her use of augmented reality (AR) to bring her concepts to life. Cahill’s work often focuses on social issues and invites audiences to see familiar environments in new ways.
One of Cahill’s notable projects, 4th Wall, is a free AR art platform she founded. The 4th Wall, people can experience her art in real-world locations by simply using their smartphones. This means her art isn’t only in gallery walls but becomes part of the public space allowing anyone to see it. Encouraging people to interact with her pieces and explore her messages by placing art directly into the peoples space.
Cahill’s work has been featured in The New York Times and Frieze. One of her projects, CENTO, was commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art and is the museum's first AR project with audience participation. CENTO invites people from all over the world to contribute to the artwork, creating a collage of pieces that reflects the perspectives of its participants. This approach makes Cahill’s work feel communal and talks about one of her themes of unity/community, as the project itself becomes a visual expression of global collaboration and creative freedom.
In July 2024, Cahill premiered SEEK at Cosm Los Angeles. The film blends digital effects, environmental themes, and cosmic visuals to create an experience that's futuristic and in nature. Her process often begins with graphite drawings, which she then turns into 3D sculptures. For example, in her piece Slipstream: Petit Mort, she drew graphite illustrations and turned them into digital sculptures. Her process gives a sense of layered, thoughtful texture to her work because of this. Each step in her process she elevates her drawings through detail and digital use. It's like evolving your drawing.
What makes Cahill’s art so unique is her ability to combine different mediums like traditional drawing with advanced digital techniques. Her work often appears fragmented, as if parts of the image have been scratched or torn away, revealing hidden layers underneath. This unique style makes her art feel like a sci-fi world where nature and digital like coexist. When I was looking at her art it seemed as if a huge cat in the AR world was going around and scratching her art. Another element I admire from her work is her use of color theory and light, most of her work has colors and a strong sense of color and light. It gives an otherworldly feel to it. Her use of AR allows these layered, textured scenes to appear in real-world locations, where viewers can walk around them and see them from different perspectives. By combining natural themes, futuristic design, and interactive technology, Cahill creates art that is immersive and alive, which is showcased in huge areas which is the perfect fit. Through her work, she invites viewers to explore a new reality where digital and natural worlds blend, opening up new ways of seeing common spaces and challenging our understanding of art in the modern world.
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