Curator’s Statement

SAFE TRAVELS, a collection of work by artist Ariel Bullion Ecklund, explores intersections of internal and external states. Photographic imagery, stitched and scripted, along with sculptural vessel and vestige, create a kind of ‘mise-en-scene’, where we can enter as either character or witness. The work considers its own physical presence in the third dimension, while communicating a fourth - a perceived passing of time.

Ecklund’s objects are containers for deeper psychological exploration. Her vessels in particular suggest spaces of embodiment, a ‘within’ and ‘without’. Layered imagery acts as both setting and state - more than documentation, it is reflected upon itself, in the realms of dreams and memories.

A soft wish, SAFE TRAVELS asks us to enter both our interior and exterior journeys with a sense of care; to honor what chooses to arrive, and to accept what moves towards us.

-Alisha Sickler Brunelli, curator of Safe Travels, Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, May 2026