Nicole Cudzilo (b. 1991) is a New Mexico-based artist and educator whose work explores the intimate connection between nature and the human experience. Known for her evocative environmental self-portraits, she uses her own form as a subject and symbol, becoming both part of the natural world, and a contrast to its grandeur. By embracing the moments in-between movement and stillness, action and reflection, each photograph becomes a visual meditation, accenting the delicate tension of what it means to be human—both fragile and powerful, deeply connected to the natural world, yet inherently individual.

Drawing on Pop Art’s visual boldness and mid-century pop cultural archetypes, my work uses staged self-portraiture to explore femininity as performance and examine how female identity is shaped by desire, consumption and nature itself.