From July 11, 2025 through February 22, 2026, the San José Museum of Art (SJMA) presents Young Bay Mud, a new exhibition exploring the complex relationship between humans and the land. Curated by Nidhi Gandhi, former curatorial and programs associate at SJMA, the exhibition features artists Ashwini Bhat, Mercedes Dorame, Futurefarmers, Tanja Geis, and Joanna Keane Lopez, who engage with mud as both a material and conceptual framework. Through their work, these artists address themes of ecological entanglement, environmental responsibility, and the role of art in reimagining human connections to the Earth.

Northern California's seismic instability, while challenging for human settlement, has fostered a remarkably diverse ecosystem, making the region one of the most biologically rich in the world. Central to this ecological balance is the region’s "young bay mud"—a geological formation of water-saturated deposits shaped by recurring earthquakes over the last 10,000 years.

Each artist in Young Bay Mud has lived in Northern California and has developed practices that are informed by the region's histories and environmental concerns. Their work confronts local issues—such as resource extraction, pollution, military activity, climate upheaval, and the housing crisis—rejecting industrial, militarized, and extractive human interactions with the land. Instead, they draw on indigenous, ancestral, and multispecies knowledge to propose alternative ways of relating to the environment.