Discover the world from near and far in these artworks from the RWA Collection.

From the vastness of the sea to a delicate blade of grass, each artist looks at the world from a different perspective. Observation is one of the foundations of artistic practice and from this shared starting point emerge individual artworks in a variety of mediums and styles.

This exhibition explores fresh ways of seeing the landscape, from microscopic and macroscopic points of view. Familiar landscapes are transformed into abstract patterns when looked at from a bird’s-eye perspective. Meanwhile, close looking at details and the texture of different materials reveals other ways in which an artist’s choice of focus can shape our understanding of the world around us. 

Our enduring fascination with Space and worlds beyond our own is celebrated in the RWA exhibition Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space (24 January – 19 April 2026). In response, this display turns our gaze back to Earth, with an invitation to slow down and look with renewed curiosity.

Curated by students from the MA History of Art course at the University of Bristol.

Image: Janette Kerr, Night Sea, 2007