Brazilian artist Ana Elisa Egreja explores the themes of migration and cross-cultural exchange through her vibrant still lifes. By combining elements from her native São Paulo with motifs from abroad, she creates a rich tapestry where unexpected companions coexist.

In a new suite of 15 oil paintings, Egreja draws on the Dutch Golden Age tradition while incorporating the contrived qualities of collage. Her tablescapes feature fresh flowers and shiny produce alongside cellophane-wrapped snacks and canned goods, symbolising flight as freedom and migration.

Her works include a pair of window pieces, covered in 24-karat gold leaf and decorative wrought grilles, serving as a pause point for winged creatures moving between interior and exterior. The artist’s sunsets, with bold gradients rippling from crimson to amber, provide backdrops for her rich still lifes.

Egreja questions the hard boundaries we perceive between private and public space, wildness and domesticity, and international borders. She also renders these lines illegible to non-human counterparts, nodding to an ongoing organic exchange between seemingly disparate entities.

The works are part of Egreja’s first solo exhibition in the U.S., titled 'The Flight of Color', which runs from July 16 to September 5 at Jessica Silverman in San Francisco. Explore more of her practice on Instagram.