When We Surrender brings together photographs by Nicole Combeau made over a decade that invite a slower way of seeing. Moving between portraits, landscapes, and layered images, the works linger in moments where bodies and the natural world begin to fold into one another. The exhibition makes space for quiet, solace, and curiosity—for what remains just beyond perception, and for the relationships that become visible only through time and attention.
Nicole Combeau (b. 1994, Miami, FL) is a Colombian-American visual artist and arts educator. Working across analog photography, artist books, textiles, and installation, she questions photography’s role as evidence, using the medium as a language for experiences that cannot be readily seen or explained. Her contemplative images invite viewers to linger in the space between observation and perception. Combeau received her BFA in Photography and Video from the School of Visual Arts in 2016. Alongside her studio practice, she has spent nearly a decade developing arts education programs for museums and nonprofit organizations, where her work as an educator continues to shape her approach to image making, collaboration, and community. She is a two-time recipient of the Oolite Ellies Creator Award, a 2026 Jay Kislak University of Miami Fellow, and is currently an artist-in-residence at Bakehouse Art Complex.
