Slide Images
1 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 1
2 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 2
3 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 3
4 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 4
Earth II, 2025
Organic materials (earth), glass
745.5 x 205.5 cm / 24.45 x 6.7 ft
5 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 5
Luna No. 1 and Luna No. 2, 2025
6 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 6
Shifting, 2018
7 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 7
8 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 8
9 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 9
Assemblages
10 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 10
Assemblages
11 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 11
Assemblages detail
12 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 12
Assemblages detail
13 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 13
Assemblages detail
14 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 14
Assemblages detail
15 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 15
Assemblages II (shelves), 1986-2025
Steel, bronze, stone, glass, organic materials, cement fondu, books (paper)
Occupied space: 538 x 46 x 236 cm / 216 x 18 x 93 in
16 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 16
17 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 17
Heads, 1993-2021
Occupied space: 360 x 200 cm / 11.8 x 6.5 ft
18 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 18
Heads detail
19 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 19
Heads detail
20 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 20
Feet, 1992-2021
Occupied space: 360 x 182 cm / 141 x 71.6 in
21 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 21
Feet detail
22 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 22
Steel/Stone, 2002-2021
Stone, steel
Occupied space: 200 x 177 cm / 79 x 70 in
23 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 23
24 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 24
Earth Marks Series XVIII, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, 2002-2020
Earth, graphite, oil on mylar
238 x 107 cm / 93 x 42 in
25 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 25
Earth Marks detail
26 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 26
Earth Marks detail
27 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 27
Earth Marks detail
28 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 28
Heads Series IV, No. 3, No. 5, No. 7, 2010-2014
Earth, graphite, oil on mylar
29 - TERRA, 2025, installation view no. 29
Heads detail
TERRA, 2025
The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Curated by Stephanie Burdzy
“This continual discernment of meaning, between individual objects and their communal relationships, grounds Safdie’s meditations on the singular and the collective, on experiences that are personal, and those which are shared. Assembling, ordering, categorizing and coupling elements of her evolving collection, Safdie engenders situations in which to endow found forms with renewed life, transforming her vast inventory into works of art (...)
(...) Nestled among the multitude of Assemblages is a cast cement hand gently clasping a shell. Its pair lies open nearby, upturned and empty as a cup. Their contrasting postures distill the ethos that has guided Safdie since those first hours spent arranging treasures on her cave floor: at once protective and receptive to new encounters, attentive to what is already held and what is still to come. Through the hand that rests lightly on the shell and the open palm beside it, Safdie reminds us of our embodied relationship with, and duty to protect Earth – terra – our shared home.”
Sylvia Safdie: Nature, Earth and Being Human
Stephanie Burdzy, The National Gallery of Canada, December 2025