By Pia Diamandis
American artist Rachel Mishael creates abstract pieces out of sand from different terrains and beaches. Stylistically, her pieces feel at home around contemporary Japandi design, an interior design movement that combines Japanese minimalism with Scandinavian hygge. Japandi design has been artistically rendered to give its viewers a sense of tranquillity and harmony, much like the emotions evoked by Mishael’s pieces. This aligns with how she emphasizes that her practice was born out of a need to counter her anxiety and OCD, a need which drove her to seek calmness and peace in nature.
Hence, her pieces emulate the calmness that one would feel if they were out in nature, a wave of calmness that engulfs someone when hiking through woods, or standing at the beach, gazing at the horizon. Mishael’s pieces help her and her viewers take home this calming quality of the planet, to remind themselves every day of their connection to Mother Earth, something bigger that makes their own problems small. Yet, today this something bigger requires their effort and protection too, another message which Mishael’s pieces remind her viewers of. This is why her pieces are relevant to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Life on Land, Good Health and Well-Being and Climate Action.
In each piece, Mishael has attached sand from different landscapes onto canvas. By doing so, she allows the natural materials to guide her hand into shaping them into natural forms. The canvas results mimic naturally occurring landscapes such as sandy dunes and shorelines, grounding the viewer’s experience in their memories of being out in nature.
Mishael has also chosen sand to anchor her practice, as for her, the substrate, which took thousands or millions of years to form from broken-down rocks, is an ancient witness to the planet’s eons-old well-being. This makes sand the perfect conduit for those seeking a connection to the environment.
The mental well-being benefits of spending time in nature, which Mishael alludes to, are also supported by scientific evidence. A study by Stanford University has found that people who took 90-minute walks in nature showed a decreased level of brain activity commonly associated with depression. Another study by the University of Iowa, conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, also found that people with access to a view of nature from their windows felt happier in isolation compared to those who didn’t.
“It’s the best way I know how to slow down racing thoughts and live in the present. It's my own form of meditation,” summarizes Mishael of the benefits of her practice for her.
Aside from campaigning on the mental health benefits of looking at nature and her paintings, Mishael also shares with her 7 million TikTok followers the environmental benefits of using sand as paint. Her argument comes mainly from the fact that a study published by the Swiss research firm Environmental Action has found that in 2022, the largest source of microplastic pollution in the oceans is paint (accounting for 58 percent of the total 1.9 million tons). This adds yet another layer as to why Mishael’s pieces not only promote mental well-being through spending time in nature, but also speak for the preservation of nature.
Find out more about Rachel Mishael’s abstract soil art and their other pieces by checking their Instagram on @misha.elle.studio.