an essence of smoke

an essence of smoke
j. nyla ink mcneill
2024
Acrylic on canvas
8 × 10 in.

Smoke here is treated as something ubiquitous: a material that is everywhere and nowhere at once, like sky. The painting moves with that non-/logic, allowing forms to blur rather than settle into fixed imagery. What begins as a grounded surface becomes increasingly atmospheric, suggesting movement, dissolution, permeability.

The collaborative process is also central. Making alongside family became part of the work’s structure, echoing my broader engagement with communal practices of care during a time without clarity, including my relationship to altered states of perception.