Although it is important to recognize the personal context of her work, the repeated emphasis on Becker’s psychiatric health denies a much more expansive reading of her practice, which presented us with a mode of producing space for the self that not only emerged from internal struggle, but from the specific conditions of living in Los Angeles in the 1990s and beyond. It reveals a precarious way of being, born from a city which was—and still is—unwelcoming to the survival of artists.

Hayley Barker’s paintings depict landscapes of gardens and homes she visits and inhabits, works which render the texture and movement of the natural world as something that is not only seen, but lived in. Influenced by tarot and earth-based spirituality, her early practice as a performance artist, and feminist artists such as Ana Mendieta, Hayley's work offers a fresh perspective in contemporary landscape painting. Sóla Saar Agustsson recently spoke with Hayley about the evolution of her artistic and spiritual practice, and "Laguna Castle," her solo exhibition at Night Gallery in February 2023.