Los Angeles-based artist Mercedes Dorame’s work explores how we position ourselves in relation to the land we inhabit. For this new commission, Dorame was drawn to the view from the Getty Center across the Pacific Ocean to Pimugna, or Pimu (Catalina Island), long inhabited by the Tongva people. To conjure a return gaze from Pimugna, her installation includes painted views of the coastline and suspended sculptures of abalone—an endangered mollusk and important cultural resource for coastal California Native peoples.

This project is the first “Rotunda Commission,” a series of art installations inspired by the Getty Museum’s collection, architecture, and site.