Nalyn Mun
< Every ground is an Entrace > (2026)
Humans establish relationships with nature by observing, touching, and physically entering it. Nature evokes sensations, memories, and emotions, offering us different ways of experiencing the world. Yet physical proximity does not necessarily mean that we can fully understand or experience nature in its entirety.
I am interested in the distance between humans and nature — a distance that can never be completely overcome.
We move our bodies into natural environments in an attempt to experience them more closely. We walk on the earth, immerse ourselves in water, and feel the wind and changes in temperature. These encounters create a sense of belonging to nature, yet they also reveal the limits of what the human body can reach or perceive. Paradoxically, the closer we come to nature, the more apparent the distance between us becomes.
This sense of distance also emerges through our attempts to document and possess nature. We photograph, collect, and record fragments of the natural world, seeking to preserve particular places and moments. Yet we can only possess fragments, never the entirety of their time, atmosphere, or sensory experience. The very act of approaching nature reveals the distance that remains between us.
The distance I refer to is not merely physical, but existential. Although we can encounter and experience nature, we can never fully access nature as it exists beyond our own perceptions and interpretations.
I believe this distance does not separate humans from nature, but instead sustains our relationship with it. We repeatedly approach what remains beyond our reach, experiencing longing and desire through this continuous movement.
For me, the ground becomes an entrance through which these relationships begin. The moment we step onto, touch, or observe the earth, we enter into a relationship with nature. Yet crossing this threshold does not mean arriving at nature itself. The entrance is not a passage that eliminates distance, but a threshold through which we become increasingly aware of the distance that remains.
Through my practice, I seek not to eliminate the distance between humans and nature, but to explore how this distance emerges, becomes perceptible, and is experienced.