DMST Atelier presents Natty Alchemy, a solo exhibition by Shalandrea Renee Houchen featuring painting, poetry, photography, performance art, video and installation, on view from February 16 to March 7th 2025.
Natty Alchemy is borne from reverence for ancestry, astrology, and the unseen forces that shape our world. The title itself is layered with meaning: “Natty,” a word deeply rooted in Jamaican culture, signifies raw, natural beauty, while “Alchemy” speaks to the profound process of change and evolution.
This exhibition is a testament to transformation – an artistic transmutation shaped by lived experiences, ancestral connections, and cosmic influences. Shalandrea alchemizes her experiences, weaving Celestial bodies, West African deities, and elemental forces into vivid, immersive compositions. Her works channel wisdom from God, Oshun, Oya, and Shango while simultaneously gazing into the planetary expanses of Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Earth.
At the exhibition’s core are four elemental paintings — Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. These works, rendered in acrylic, charcoal, and oil pastel, explore the fundamental forces governing existence. Each painting is accompanied by a poem and photographic prints. While the paintings suggest an ongoing celestial dialogue, Shalandrea’s poetry and photographic prints ground us within her earthly experience on this plane – expressing love, grief, and ultimately, resilience.
The DMST Living Room is Shalandrea’s offering to Natty Alchemy’s viewers. It is a sacred space, a reflection of home in its most expansive definition. Home has been fluid throughout her life — one found within the walls of DMST Atelier Artist Residency studio space. It is this practice of making home, creating stability wherever she finds herself, which informs this Living Room, infused with infinite love and ancestral echoes. Here, poems, records of musical legends, and messages of affirmation converge, urging all who enter to embrace the fullness of their being.
