Soft Landings: The Healing Power of Storytelling explores the transformative potential of storytelling through accessible artistic mediums: collage and found object assemblage. These techniques offer artists Noreen Smith and Mark West therapeutic outlets to process personal experiences. By weaving their lives into visual narratives, they create spaces of connectivity, intimacy, and comfort. Their work not only fosters healing and empowerment for themselves but also resonates with and uplifts their communities.

Thematically, the works on display complement each other, reflecting themes of reimagining reality, feminine empowerment, and connections to nature and the spiritual realm. Both artists incorporate recycled materials, emphasizing ecological sustainability as an integral aspect of their creative practices. 

Noreen Smith draws from her experiences as a Black woman, combining lived realities with imagery inspired by comic books and graphic novels. Her collages construct compelling stories that engage viewers and provide teachable moments through a powerful blend of personal and fantastical elements. Her work, No Weapon Formed Against Us… overlays pairs of eyes surrounding an inflamed architectural structure seemingly ascending via rocket propellants – providing open-ended questions such as, “What are they looking at? Where are they going?”

Mark West uses mixed media assemblages to explore African spiritualities, cultural adornments, and landscapes inspired by his travels through Asia, South America, and the United States. By integrating twigs, fabrics, and furniture into his sculptural paintings, West brings his visions to life in a tactile, immersive way. Exemplified in his work, Eve with Satan in which he uses household items to reimagine the biblical story of Eve’s temptation by the devil, West’s work encourages viewers to find inspiration and meaning in ordinary materials in order to see creativity within their own lives.



Through their respective practices, Noreen Smith and Mark West transform everyday materials into vessels of storytelling, reflection, and understanding. Soft Landings highlights the profound ability of art to create, reclaim, and/or reimagine narratives while bridging personal and collective histories to inspire deeper connections with the world around us. By engaging with their works, viewers are invited to contemplate their own relationships to memory, identity, and transformation—finding solace and strength in the power of creative expression.