When students walk into the Religious Studies program meeting space, the first thing they see is a riot of color, greeted by the faces of a coyote, birds, rabbits, and insects emerging from the foliage, along with crescent moons and a sun.
These are some of the features of a new mural recently commissioned by the program.
See a video of the full mural here.
Opting for native Southern Californian flora and fauna subjects in an abundance of hues and shades, alongside seamlessly woven global and cultural fabric elements, the Religious Studies mural installation encapsulates the core values and goals of the program while actively inviting an engagement between the viewer and work itself. It is a place for self-reflection, connection, and community.
The Heart of the Mural
After a two-year search for space to house the Religious Studies program, the program settled in Krieger Hall 229.
The walls of the new office offered a blank canvas: how could they best exemplify something meaningful and timeless that overlaps the study of religion?
Dr. Brianne Donaldson, Director and Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Shri Parshvanath Presidential Chair in Jain Studies, wanted the room to illustrate the program’s values and goals. Even more importantly, she hoped it would provide a space for community-building and reflection.
To achieve this goal, Donaldson imagined a mural that would define the space and offer a visual representation of the program’s mission, aiming to equip students with a critical multidisciplinary view of world religions, global philosophies, history, and cultural expressions that continue to shape the contemporary world.
The mural aims to visually represent a “nest” that supplements the program’s mission of world religions, global philosophies, history, and cultural expressions. Moreover, Donaldson’s research in the more-than-human ethics and the universal presence of plants and animals within religions generally, and Asian traditions in particular, led her to consider a universal ecological community interspersed with global fabrics and cross-cultural ritual symbolism. To capture all of these ideas, Donaldson also included native Southern California animals, insects, and plants, which she sourced from the UCI Ecological Preserve.
Rather than the expected, traditional religious imagery, Donaldson wanted it to feature cross-cultural elements, such as fabric patterns and threads with designs from African, Middle Eastern, South Asian, East Asian, local Indigenous, and global, and creatures from Southern California, to allow everyone to find their individual connection with the piece. Donaldson hoped the room would create “a feeling of being in a cosmic nest and convey cultural and religious concepts across time through threads, fabrics and crosscultural religious symbolism" including animals, insects, plants, water, earth, air, sun, fire, moon, light, darkness, arched entries, and others. To create a new habitat, a sanctuary that takes the visitors out of their current reality and serves as a safe space for reflection and community building.
However, unlike traditional murals, which are often painted on large surfaces and permanent, the program’s mural had to be removable, due to UCI regulations.
The need for a removable mural and a limited budget required a local artist who could make multiple trips to the university campus.
Transforming Language to Visual Reality
Jamie Kough, a local Southern California artist with years of experience painting murals, took on the commission.
Many of Kough’s previous pieces incorporated abstract plants and animals, which Donaldson thought would be a great match for the mural she had in mind. With multiple calls and emails between Donaldson and Kough, Kough got a relative idea and began to work.
Drawing inspiration from the patterns of traditional African tribes' masks, fabrics from various cultures and regions, arches symbolic of gateways to spiritual spaces, and references to the more-than-human world from the UCI Ecological Preserve, Kough developed the following sketches to translate Donaldson's words into a visual reality.
From the initial black and white sketch to one with vivid colors, the sketch took its final form on birch plywood. Kough used spray paint for the base–giving the piece more texture–before proceeding with acrylic house paint to fill in the other details.
Finally, after completing the mural, Kough traveled to the university campus to install it. However, the installation didn’t go as planned. When she saw the space, Kough suggested wrapping the mural around the room, amplifying the sense of immersion.
To further elevate the immersive effects of the mural, Kough added oranges, moons, moths, fish, plants, and flowers on top of the original layer, giving the piece three-dimensional depth and making the creatures more vivid.
In addition to the mural, Donaldson commissioned Kough to create a hallway sign for the Religious Studies program, which is outside the room; elements such as the arches, cranes, patterns, and floral elements visually match the mural inside the room, suggesting a gate into the room.
The Grand Reveal
A butterfly spreads its wings, allowing the sun to shine on its bold orange and black colors. The rays of the sun are detailed with delicate patterns, brightening the room alongside yellow-crescent moons and oranges as the jack rabbit settles alongside the pelican.
On the other side of the sun, the bobcat emerges among the native greenery, entangled in the flowers and cacti. Behind them are thin white lines, forming arches, gateways to the space beyond the room, suggesting new spiritual spaces. An owl perches among the cacti, beholding its viewer, while water ripples out from the graceful touch of a crane.
Dragonflies cluster around a howling coyote, where the coyote’s howl breathes life into the room and echoes the detailed fabric patterns found on the sun. Although the mural’s intense colors demand attention, Kough doesn’t see this as an impediment to meditation. “I do think color, for the most part, is very inviting,” she says. “There's a lot to look at, but I love that, you know, when people say that they just sat there and they were looking at it, and every time they look at it, they see something new.”
Donaldson hopes that anyone who enters this space will feel invited to “ be your creaturely self [and] find rest and inspiration.”
Beyond the Room: Viewing Religious Studies as a Whole
Religious Studies is a robust field of study with its own theories and methodologies. With faculty affiliates all across campus, from economics to philosophy, medicine to anthropology, Religious Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that attempts to understand the religion of different communities in different spaces and times.
Whether studying the past or our current reality, the study of religion remains vital to our understanding of the structures of human society and connections between human beings. Scholars of religions also study how religion shapes identities, communities, and even perspectives regarding plants, animals, and environment.
The Religious Studies program actively continues to expand its engagement with other schools across the campus.
Donaldson shares that the program is expanding and increasing their outreach across the campus in hopes of connecting and supporting any scholars whose research involves religion. If your research covers any aspect of religion, feel free to reach out to the Religious Studies program.
Anyone interested in learning about religion and how religion relates to other fields of study should consider taking a Religious Studies course. Some courses you can take this winter quarter are An Economic Approach to Religion, Gender and Premodern Japan, and World Religions I: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The program offers a major, a minor, and two certificates: Religions and Cultures, and Jain Studies and Nonviolence.
And More
The Religious Studies program office is not just a space for students who study religion, but also open to everyone Monday-Friday 12:00-5:00pm (4pm on Fridays). Additionally, weekly Meaning of Life Silence Sessions take place every Thursday 3:45-4:45pm, where individuals can enjoy extended silence followed by tea and conversation with faculty, students across campus, and other community members.
Check out the Religious Studies program’s website and Instagram!
If you are interested in Kough’s art, check out her website and Instagram: @jamiekough.
Tammy Wu (‘27) is an English major; Tammy was the 2025-26 Religious Studies Intern.