***SAVE THE DATE 6.10.2026 | Gallery Happy Hour at 5:00pm + Artist Conversation at 6:00pm | Lorena Morales with Zaynab Hilal, Curatorial Fellow at the HCCC***
Hooks-Epstein Galleries proudly presents "Once Upon a Home", an exhibition of mixed media works by Houston-based Venezuelan American artist, Lorena Morales. The exhibition opens Saturday, May 16, 2026 with the Opening Reception taking place from 5:00PM-8:00PM.
The work of Lorena Morales relates to the evolving nature of home and the importance this has for an individual and their identity. Morales is interested in the relationship between personal and collective narratives challenging the viewer to further discover the feelings surrounding home. With her works, Morales seeks to discover what it means to represent a concept that is so multidimensional—whether home is a sensation, a practice, or a state of being in the world.
The pieces presented in "Once Upon a Home" are the result of Morales' interest in exploring how sense of home and belonging changes over time and how memories are inextricably linked to the physical and emotional spaces people inhabit. The works entitled "Once Upon a Home" are a continuation of a series of multidimensional colleges she began in 2022. For this series, Morales integrates painting and drawing on paper combined with vintage wallpaper; she intentionally modifies the original design of the wallpaper to reflect the fragmented nature of memory. These works question how individuals piece together fragments of the past to form a complete, yet subjective understanding of home.
The works in Morales’ "Exuberant Home" series are multilayered collages composed of materials associated with domestic life, such as fabrics, wallpaper, lace, thread, beads, and ribbons. These elements create dynamic spaces full of vibrant patterns, natural motifs, and bold colors arranged in eclectic designs that serve as metaphors for movement, adaptation, and belonging. For Morales, the creative process and material experimentation is as vital as the finished piece; themes exploring the perception of home and the persistence of memory are a common thread running through the varied materials and the visual compositions created.
