In her Parallel series, Nicole Salgar explores the dualities of identity, nature, and the unseen forces that shape our inner lives. Each portrait presents a solitary female figure, rendered with her signature hyperrealist precision, but disrupted by surreal elements that hint at a world existing just beyond the visible. The dark, inky hand that reaches into each composition becomes a recurring motif—part guardian, part shadow, part echo of the self—suggesting a parallel existence that is inseparable from the subject.

Salgar balances architectural backdrops, dreamlike landscapes, and organic textures with an emotional stillness in her sitters’ expressions. Together, the three works form a meditation on connection and multiplicity: the tension between self and other, light and shadow, strength and vulnerability. Parallel I, II, and III invite the viewer to consider the layered realities we all navigate, and how unseen energies shape our sense of being in the world.