Photographer Anastasia Samoylova has been a familiar presence in the pages of PALMER—her eye behind the lens capturing the surreal poetry of South Florida in Vol. 6 and the whimsical energy of Martin Gruss’ Magical Car Collection in Vol. 7. This fall, her vision takes center stage at the Norton Museum of Art, alongside American painter Shara Hughes, in two major solo exhibitions that open November 15, 2025, and run through March 1, 2026.
Anastasia Samoylova: Atlantic Coast
In Atlantic Coast, Samoylova retraces the 2,390-mile journey of U.S. Route 1, weaving past and present into a layered meditation on American myth-making. Inspired by Berenice Abbott’s overlooked 1954 documentation of the same route, Samoylova’s images juxtapose color and black-and-white photography to reveal the entanglement of environment, politics, consumerism, and nostalgia.
“The open road has long been a place of inquiry, both personal and collective,” Samoylova notes. As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, her photographs serve as mirrors of a fractured yet interconnected identity, where the landscape is both witness and storyteller. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated book co-published with Aperture Foundation, further anchoring her contribution to contemporary photography.
Shara Hughes: Inside Outside
Exhibited in parallel, Inside Outside is the first mid-career survey of Shara Hughes, bringing together more than 30 works that blur the boundaries between figuration and abstraction. Known for her exuberant palettes and shifting perspectives, Hughes paints without preliminary sketches or references, transposing her interior world directly onto the canvas.
Her large-scale works and new ceramic sculptures, created during her residency at the Norton in collaboration with the Armory Art Center, expand her exploration of the “window” as a portal—whether a literal frame within an interior, or trees and water shaping the view in imagined landscapes. As curator Arden Sherman notes, Hughes’ work “offers a space for contemplation and opportunities to discover elements that resonate emotionally with the viewer’s lived experience”.
Together, Samoylova and Hughes embody the Norton’s commitment to artists who reimagine the visual language of landscape and belonging. Both are 2025 Artists-in-Residence at the museum, and their exhibitions position West Palm Beach as a cultural gateway to urgent dialogues in contemporary art.
The Norton Museum of Art presents Anastasia Samoylova: Atlantic Coast and Shara Hughes: Inside Outside from November 15, 2025 through March 1, 2026.