Nature, connection, motherhood and the body — a cohort of eight Roski School of Art and Design master’s students strung these themes together with artwork from 12 artists to create one exhibit: “the very substance of ourselves.”

The curated gallery at the Roski Graduate Building in Los Angeles’ Arts District invites visitors to reflect on how the body molds, bends and evolves through its interactions with natural and constructed environments, as well as with other people.

“We’re not acting alone in an inert environment,” said Anabelle Gunderson, one of the exhibit’s curators and a second-year master’s student studying curatorial practices and the public sphere. “Everything in the world is connected to our bodies, and they’re always interacting and influencing each other.”

As one of the capstones of the master’s program, the students centered the selected artwork around a unifying concept: the body. For Gunderson and another curator, Courtney King, a second-year master’s student studying curatorial practices and the public sphere as well as performance studies, the theme came naturally considering their backgrounds in dance and performance.

“A lot of us were also thinking about the body in terms of its relationship to nature [and its] ability to change,” said Meg Burns, a second-year master’s student studying curatorial practices and the public sphere. “We embarked on this show, which became a real exploration of the body [and] how the body exists in the natural world, in constructed environments and in relation to other bodies.”

After combing through articles and critical theory, the cohort stumbled upon posthumanist philosopher Stacy Alaimo’s concept of transcorporeality, the idea that the human body is interwoven with its surroundings. This became the underpinning of their thesis exhibition.

“In earlier iterations of the exhibition, we were struggling, and we had different titles,” King said. “There was this pretty direct interest in the porousness of the self, and this was the best way that we could reach it.”

Among the artwork chosen for the gallery is multidisciplinary artist Maria Maea’s mixed media piece “Tina Madre,” which meshes plants and repurposed material gathered throughout L.A. Maea formed what she refers to as an “ever-evolving woman” — a representation of the multi-generational mother bearing the weight of her living ancestors’ cracked-open heads.

Another piece, by Ophelia Arc, a New York-based multidisciplinary artist, relies on more than 1,000 faux ivory pearls, beads and hand-dyed yarn to illustrate the ebb and flow of mother-daughter relationships.

Yong Soon Min’s “Alice 미옥 (Miok)” blends the Korean historical painting genre of cheokgori with photos and memorabilia of the life of Alice Hyun, or Miok, a Korean independence activist and the first recorded Korean American woman to gain American birthright citizenship. In Min’s digital collage, she explores how the immigrant’s body interacts with warfare, politics and displacement, paying homage to Hyun’s life.

Despite time zone differences between the students over the summer and the exhibit opening six weeks earlier than intended, the cohort still managed to finish in time, installing each piece in less than two weeks.

“I think the shortened timeline really helped us communicate and coordinate in a faster, more efficient way,” Gunderson said. “Especially because we were separate for most of the summer, we came back together, and it was all hands on deck.”

Gunderson described the days leading up to opening night as a “surreal” experience, noting a moment of awe and reflection during the installation of Brenda Barrios’ piece, “Cómo Hacer un Té Casero.”

“As a curator, if you make it up there, you don’t really do all the installation as well and all the registration — we all got to do a little bit of everything,” said Lexi Myrie, a second-year master’s student studying curatorial practices and the public sphere.

On Thursday, the curators welcomed the public to their opening reception with a live performance piece, “Dances on Paper, No. IV,” by Jay Carlon. Carlon, a dancer, choreographer and performance artist, imprinted graphite on paper as he danced on the rooftop of the Roski parking lot overlooking the downtown L.A. skyline. His performance explored grief, vulnerability and joy within the body and beyond it.

“Having all of our friends and loved ones come out was really meaningful, and it was great to hear that artists were happy with how their work was installed and displayed,” Burns said.

Toward the end of the night, King and Gunderson were tasked with transporting Carlon’s fresh 9-by-12-foot piece from the rooftop to the gallery downstairs. Lingerers on the roof pitched in to help carry the artwork downstairs, which King said was one of her most gratifying memories.

“It was really magical,” King said. “It was probably one of the craziest things I’ve done for a show.”

From the placement of the art down to lighting choices, the curators intended to cultivate a welcoming atmosphere that felt like home.

“We want people to feel like they can sit in a space and feel comfortable and settled — both in their own body, but also interacting with the works and maybe with other people who are around,” Gunderson said.

“The very substance of ourselves” will be showing at the Roski Graduate Building until Oct. 25 and will hold a closing ceremony Oct. 23.