"The Art of Resilience" by Nathalie Kardjian
Sat Aug 29, 2026 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM
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Nathalie Kardjian is Laguna Lab's 2nd Artist-In-Residence.
Nathalie Kardjian is a multidisciplinary, cross-cultural artist based in Los Angeles. Her practice centers on storytelling across visual, cinematic, and performative forms, using abstraction to hold memory, displacement, and lived experience. Working across painting, photography, film, and documentary theater, her work explores the psychological traces of resilience and survival through personal and collective narratives.
She presents "The Art of Resilience," a multi-faceted event combining an interactive workshop, exhibition, and fundraiser for her documentary, Hairlock. Working across diverse mediums, she will showcase her story and creative evolution through gallery wall art, film screenings, and hands-on audience participation.
The event takes place on Saturday, August 29th, 4pm-10pm
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About the Artist
Nathalie Kardjian is a multidisciplinary, cross-cultural artist based in Los Angeles. Her practice centers on storytelling across visual, cinematic, and performative forms, using abstraction to hold memory, displacement, and lived experience. Working across painting, photography, film, and documentary theater, her work explores the psychological traces of resilience and survival through personal and collective narratives.
Nathalie draws inspiration from the world around her, the struggles her generation has faced, her own lived experiences, and the human stories that unfold every day. Anything can spark creativity, but for her, true creation begins when there is nothing left to lose—a philosophy that shapes a practice driven by instinct, emotional honesty, and deep observation.
Alongside her studio work, Nathalie is the founder, director, and producer of Hair Lock Stories, an ongoing documentary project examining identity, connection, memory, and resilience across borders. The project extends beyond film into live documentary theater, exhibitions, and printed works. She has curated community-based exhibitions and pop-ups at her DTLA studio and expanded her visual language into merchandise featuring her original artwork. As a performer, she has acted in short films, commercial projects, and narrative storytelling.
After years of living and working in San Francisco and the Bay Area, Nathalie developed a parallel career in technology as an AI conversation designer and data analyst. Traveling between the Bay Area and Los Angeles, she navigates the spaces between logic and emotion, systems and storytelling. This oscillation informs her artistic language, where analytical precision meets human vulnerability, shaping a practice rooted in both intelligence and instinct.
Selected Exhibitions & Performances
Rizo Corp Gallery – Los Angeles, 2026
MC Gallery, New York — Group Exhibition, 2025
Playhouse Merced — Documentary Theater Performance, 2025
PauHaus Gallery, Los Angeles — Group Exhibition, 2025
The Little Raven Gallery, San Francisco — Group Exhibition, 2025
Pershing Square Building, Los Angeles — Curated and Group Exhibitions, July 2024; October 2024; November 2024
Manny’s, San Francisco — Group Exhibition, February 2024
Dance Mission Theater, San Francisco — Documentary Theater Performance, 2024
McSweeney’s, San Francisco — Literary & Art Event, May 2023