These two projects at the University of Cincinnati Recreation Center mark another collaboration between Rebeca Méndez and Thom Mayne of Morphosis. Homeland # 1 consists of six murals (9 x 20 feet each) that hang from the ceiling at the Center’s convenience store. Hovering over the giant bags of Doritos and university paraphernalia, Méndez photographed and composed 24 extreme panoramic landscapes. She refers to them as “ever-sustaining landscapes.” All products and nourishment originate from the harvest of raw materials from the earth. Méndez provides a glimpse of these materials in their integrity and beauty and exposes their distribution and processing before they are conveniently packaged for consumption.

Grass Structure consists of four murals enveloping architectural cone-like structures, two of them over 50 feet high. The Margaret H. Fulford Herbarium at the University of Cincinnati and Morphosis design processes led Méndez to select giant reed grass for the single element of her artwork. Méndez photographed grass from various angles and under different weather conditions, allowing external elements to create visual difference, revealing multiple patterns that one simple form—a blade of grass—produces through complex organization.

“Great visual effects are created by applying very cool, horizontal landscape photos to illustrate (brand) this fresh retail environment.”