There are children who are raised with everything - each step accounted for. Uncertainty resolved before it has time to settle in.

And there are those who are not.

These children are by no means abandoned, but, let us say, they are unaccompanied. They learn by looking, by standing still - allowing  things to unfold. They spend more time outside than in. More time observing. No maps - occasional insights, and partial guidance. The adults around them may not possess firm direction. Resisting order. They step away from the responsibility of shaping or directing. The result for the child is a life both open and uncertain - rich in possibility, but lacking clarification. And so the child must fill in the gaps. Noticing what others overlook.

It is this quality of attention - precise, sustained, and responsive - that finds its way into Leta’s work.

In her paintings, nothing is idle. The land is treated like a living ecosystem - forceful, changing, sustaining under pressure. Skies gather over bending trees.

We live now in a time where many speak of decline with certainty. There is a prevailing sense that the future has narrowed - that what lies ahead is defined primarily by loss. This view is not without cause, but it is often held too tightly, as though it were the only truth.

In holding to it, some withdraw. Relinquishing the effort to engage. But this is not the only response.

Leta turns her attention to structures and rhythms that persist even under duress. The land, in all its variation, continues to move, to adapt, to regenerate.

Recognizing this holds a more full account of what lays ahead.

When one grows without a fixed framework, there is need to understand that clarity cannot always guide you. One must proceed without it. One must act, observe, and adjust in real time.

Leta’s approach is firm with optimism.

Recognition that even in imbalance, there is structure. That in uncertainty one can be grounded.

In the land, one sees cycles that exceed immediate conditions. One sees damage followed by regrowth, instability followed by reformation.

And so, while others may be overwhelmed - losing their footing in what feels like an unrelenting flood of change - Leta’s work remains steady.

It looks, carefully and consistently, at what is still capable of carrying forward.

Many fix their gaze on what is ending. Others look to what remains in motion. With disciplined understanding - the world, though under strain, has not stopped.

And that our task is not to retreat from it, but to remain within it - observing, responding, and continuing on.