Nicolina Morra’s (b. 2003, Huntington, New York) oil paintings investigate longing as a driving force in the human experience. Disillusionment with current conditions, coupled with the desire for an unattainable ideal, can manifest in a search for meaning through secular forms of worship, where power and hope is ascribed to certain figures, rituals, and objects. Morra’s work examines how these forces of longing and devotion reflect the search for transcendence in the everyday.