Under warm lights and with the steady low hum of conversation, Bloomington’s FAR Center for Contemporary Arts held its November Gallery Walk Opening Reception on Friday. The reception introduced FAR Center patrons to Emilia Martin’s solo exhibition, “I saw a tree bearing stones in the place of apples and pears.”
Martin is a Polish artist and photographer based in The Hauge, Netherlands. According to Martins' website, her work spans multiple mediums and draws on oral storytelling, myths, legends and rituals.
"I saw a tree bearing stones in the place of apples and pears” is a photography exhibition centered on stones and the stories they tell. The exhibition also featured a physical medium, the stones themselves. Martin has also compiled the project in a mixed-media book, with a limited run of 700 print copies available for $37 on her personal website.
Martin explained her approach as developing one big idea and then exploring it. Like cosmology, her aim was not a linear narrative but rather a universe of themes, with various points of entry to explore. She said an exhibition like the one at FAR was a good way to bring it together, allowing her to express the connection between rocks and storytelling.
“This work and much of my work focuses on questioning the idea of how we form history or stories, or how do we understand facts and fiction, and how stories travel,” Martin said. “But I don’t give any answers, I invite people to reflect on this, and if this reflection happens that’s fantastic.”
Some of the exhibition’s photographs depicted scenes of people interacting with meteorites. Other photographs omit humans, allowing natural elements to stand alone. Interspersed throughout are meteorite stones that have journeyed to Earth from unknown places.
The reception included a Q&A between Martin and IU master’s and bachelor’s of fine arts students, in which Martin took questions related to finding success and building a career as an artist after school. There was also an artist talk for the broader community to attend, where Martin explained the process and motivations behind the project.
“FAR is good as a gathering place, as a place to come and know that you can reliably see something thought provoking every couple of months,” Lisa Woodward, co-curator of the gallery, said. “People know they can come and have a short little bite of thinking about art.”
The FAR Center hosts rotating exhibitions, workshops for children and adults and community events year-round. FAR curation intern Jesse Kogge said the galleries’ free admission underscores a Bloomington art scene that feels open to the public, not gated off.
“Not a lot of cities have a gallery like this that really benefits the community,” Kogge said. “Often times, galleries can be a closed off sphere in the art world. I really enjoy that FAR is here for the community to take part in.”
Visitors at the opening wandered slowly throughout the gallery, pausing to study each piece. Many had established their own favorites art pieces.
“I think I like that one the best, the one with the rock floating,” Kogge said. “It challenges your expectations around something we know so much about from the scientific perspective.”
Martin said although she believes it should ultimately be up to individuals to find meaning in her work, she would be happy if, at the very least, “I saw a tree bearing stones in the place of apples and pears” encouraged people to think about rocks differently.
The exhibition will remain on display at the FAR Center until Jan. 30, 2026. Admission is free and doors are open to the public during regular gallery hours.
