For this exhibition James creates a domestic environment, a room in a home. The gallery is transformed into a work of art: The walls are painted a wash with visible brushstrokes, and are adorned with paper sculptures representing the objects and furniture within it, an environment for the characters in her portraits to inhabit. Finally, completing the narrative, James places her painted figures around these objects of domesticity. A Place to Belong is on view through October 27 at Wilding Cran Gallery 939 South Santa Fe Avenue, Los Angeles. photographs by Lani Trock