Show-Me State Times

Saint Louis University’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) has announced the opening of two new exhibitions, each examining the relationship between people and the environments they inhabit.

The first exhibition, “To See This Place: Awakening to Our Common Home,” features works by artists Athena LaTocha, Mary Mattingly, and Tyler Rai. The exhibition is curated by Al Miner and MOCRA Director David Brinker. It draws inspiration from Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, published ten years ago. The document addressed the global ecological crisis and introduced the idea of “integral ecology,” which connects care for the environment with care for humanity. It also highlighted the role that art and artists play in responding to climate change.

The exhibition includes painting, photography, sculpture, video, and performance art. According to organizers, these works aim to foster awareness about environmental issues while encouraging a shift from climate despair to hope.

Athena LaTocha’s pieces use materials such as ink, lead, soils, and wood to explore how human-made actions intersect with natural processes. Her upbringing in Alaska influences her approach. Mary Mattingly creates sculptural ecosystems and installations that address water systems, food security, and climate adaptation through collaboration and investigation. Tyler Rai works across performance and sound art; she explores connections between mourning practices, ecological change, spirituality, mythology, and embodied experience.

Rai said: “My body is an extension of the earth, and therefore the earth is always a research partner.”

A second exhibition titled “Legacy: Selections from the Gerald R. and Mary Reid Brunstrom Gift of Art from Australia” presents works by Robyn Daw, Ian Friend, Karen Papacek, and Jörg Schmeisser. These pieces are part of a significant recent donation by Mary Reid Brunstrom to both MOCRA and Saint Louis University Museum of Art.

From 1988 to 2000 Austral Gallery operated in Lafayette Square under Brunstrom’s leadership. The gallery helped introduce important Australian contemporary artists—including Aboriginal voices—to St. Louis audiences. Brunstrom was also involved in organizing previous MOCRA exhibitions featuring Australian artists during the 1990s.

In 2024 she donated a major collection of both Aboriginal and non-Indigenous Australian art to MOCRA as well as Saint Louis University Museum of Art—an addition noted as enhancing both institutions’ collections.

Exhibition previews are scheduled for September 5 from 5 p.m.–9 p.m., followed by a curatorial talk at 1 p.m., September 6; an opening reception will take place afterward from 2 p.m.–4 p.m., all at MOCRA on Saint Louis University’s campus at 3700 West Pine Boulevard. Admission is free.

Both exhibitions will run through December 14; regular museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m.–4 p.m., with extended hours until 7 p.m. on Thursdays.