Lydia Baker’s paintings depict surreal dreamscapes where female protagonists explore time, memory, and desire in a seemingly boundless world. Using oil paint on textured canvas, Baker applies soft overlays of color to achieve an optical glow.

The jewel-toned figurative works process the internal cycles of the female body throughout the undulating forms, womb-like containers, and variations of water. Baker’s work investigates the intersections of familial structures and reproductive technology from a lesbian perspective.

How is a family composed? What is the physical and emotional experience of a biological clock? Baker populates her surreal but serene world with smaller figures—motifs that symbolize both reproductive cells and seeds of creative thought.