Vienna-based symbolist artist Santa GAÏA Pilens creates expansive textile murals that speak to the collective unconscious, weaving together fragments of folk traditions, prehistoric visual language, and contemporary thought. Her practice is rooted in the merging of cultures and historic timelines, guided by a single enduring principle: constant transformation and constant oneness.

For Æquō Gallery at PAD London, GAÏA presents two textile works as a prelude to her evolving concept, Enclosed Garden.

Enclosed Garden draws from the ancient idea of the garden as a structured space of meaning. Historically, its boundaries symbolized order and retreat. In 16th-century India, however, under the Mughal emperor Babur, the concept transformed—the Persian model was reimagined to celebrate not only enclosure but also openness, framing the infinite beauty of the natural world beyond its walls.

It is this shift—from containment toward boundlessness—that informs GAÏA’s vision. To realize these works, she collaborated closely with master embroiderers in India, who hand-stitched the textiles using traditional techniques. This process reflects her commitment to merging cultures and timelines, while sustaining ancestral craftsmanship within a contemporary artistic language.

The two textile murals presented here embody the duality at the heart of her vision. One speaks of the earth—a grounding force that roots us in matter, memory, and ancestry. The other turns toward the sky, evoking the immaterial, the cosmic, and the possibility of moving beyond visible limits.

Together, they form a dialogue that transcends enclosure: a passage between origins and aspirations, between the ground we walk on and the boundlessness above.

Through these works, GAÏA reimagines the Enclosed Garden not as a fixed site, but as a living allegory of transformation—an eternal cycle of grounding and transcendence, containment and release.