Woshaa’axre Yaang’aro—which means “looking back toward Los Angeles” in the Tongva language—asks viewers to adjust their perspective and imagine an existence that prioritizes the original caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles Basin and Southern Channel Islands).

Pimugna (Catalina Island), off the coast of Southern California, is a site of rich cultural legacy for the Tongva people. Visible from the Getty Center on a clear day, it is often the recipient of a gaze from the mainland. This work presents a return gaze from the vantage point of an island, a Tongva person, and the abalone mollusk itself, whose lustrous shell inspired the sculptures overhead. It insists on recentering Indigenous ancestral knowledge to learn from and engage the First Peoples of the land.

Abalone have long held a prominent role in the culture and survival of the Tongva people and the ecology of the California coast. As you look up at the suspended shells and the painted views of the horizon and coastline, I hope to immerse the viewer in the realm of the abalone, creating a sense of kinship, reciprocity, and balance with the natural world. I hope we learn to value these important relatives as messengers of the health of the water, the health of the environment, and the health of us all.