Project Spotlight:
Rana Begum's Reflection at The Gallery at Windsor
Artist: Rana Begum
Installation Date: January 2026
Location: The Gallery at Windsor, Vero Beach, FL
Services Provided: Art Installation + Transportation
A Closer Look at Installing Contemporary Art
Art installation has been part of Denali's work since day one. We've hung prints in historic French Quarter homes, installed full exhibitions for New Orleans museums, and transported artwork across state lines in our climate-controlled box truck.
For Rana Begum's Reflection at The Gallery at Windsor in Vero Beach, Florida, we handled it all – pickup in Georgia, transport to Florida, and a week-long installation. Our truck doubled as on-site storage for crates and packing materials while Brittan Rosendahl led the crew through the install.
Installation work keeps you adaptable. You might be working with an artist you've never met, artwork you've only seen in photos, or a space you've never stepped foot in. But when the venue shows up ready, the crew's chemistry clicks, and the artist's vision is clear, the work flows.
The Work: Colorful, Reflective, Precise
Rana Begum is a British artist known for transforming everyday industrial materials – trailer reflectors, chain link fences, aluminum bars – into immersive optical experiences. Her work plays with light, color, geometry, and repetition, creating pieces that shift as you move around them.
Reflection brought together multiple bodies of work from Begum's practice, previously exhibited at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). The show included wall-mounted installations, ceiling-hung pieces, and outdoor sculptures – each requiring multi-step precision installation.
Here's what the crew was working with:
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Wall-mounted aluminum bars: About 24 pieces, each roughly five feet tall, mounted with laser-level precision. Each bar had two mounting points on the back that received screw heads. Plot the points, set the screws, mount each bar, move to the next. Straightforward process, but when you're doing two dozen of them, precision matters.
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Reflective triangular mirror tiles: Somewhere between 90 and 120 individual pieces, each mounted on its own plate with magnetic backing. Carter Lashley worked directly with Begum on this installation, dialing in each tile to minimize gaps and create a seamless geometric surface. It's the kind of piece that looks effortless – until you realize how many individual points of contact went into making it read that way.
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Powder-coated chain link fence: Layered sections hung from the ceiling, creating shifting optical effects as viewers moved past. Blue layers on one side, red on the other, overlapping to create purple and navy tones. The motion is what activates the piece – larger diamond patterns emerge and recede depending on where you're standing.
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Outdoor reflector towers: Three sculptures made from trailer reflectors (yes, the kind you see on the back of trucks), installed on bases we fabricated here in New Orleans. The bases were designed to receive large ground anchors, which were then backfilled with dirt.
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Stairwell installation: A mesh piece with multiple overlapping sections, installed in a freshly painted stairwell with scaffolding provided by Windsor's facilities team.
This wasn't 2D artwork that goes up quickly. Every piece was a multi-step process requiring precision, patience, and problem-solving.
A Venue That Shows Up Ready
What made this job run smoothly?
Windsor's facilities team.
When Begum noticed mismatched paint in the stairwell and requested a repaint, Windsor had four crew members on ladders the next morning, covering the entire wall before our team arrived at 8:45 a.m. By the end of that day, the paint was dry, and scaffolding was in place so the Denali crew could install the piece the following morning.
When a venue shows up prepared, professional, and ready to collaborate, it changes the entire dynamic of an install.
The Crew
Brittan took the lead on not only the install, but organizing all the logistical aspects of this job, too. (Brittan is Denali’s Transport Coordinator.) Brendan Henning, who is one of Denali’s most experienced art handlers, woodworkers, and do-it-all crew members joined him. Many of our usual crew were busy on a big collections move in Atlanta at the time, so we looped in two trusted freelancers to round out the team: Carter Lashley, who works with us regularly and has a deep skill set across materials and techniques, and Guy Overfelt, who we've collaborated with through Masterpiece International, and who came highly recommended by Nicole after working a booth together during Miami Art Week.
As Brittan described it: "As far as the team went, we vibed real well."
That matters. Installation work requires constant communication, quick adjustments, and trust that everyone is handling their section without needing to be micromanaged. When the crew clicks, the work comes easy.
When Artists are Installing Art
Much of our crew here at Denali – including Brittan, who worked this job – are artists themselves, so we understand even more deeply how necessary it is to execute an installation carefully and expertly. But not only that, it means that we’ll often be able to appreciate what the artist is envisioning.
Begum's work asks you to notice materials you might otherwise overlook. Trailer reflectors. Chain link fences. Aluminum bars. She takes the ordinary and pushes it.
As Brittan, put it: "I think as an artist, that's what I enjoy the most – when I recognize that an artist just goes, I know what I can do with that material. And they just push it. Instead of just being, what does one of these do? They're like, what does 200 of these do?"
It's an aha moment. And when you're the one installing it – spacing those bars, setting those tiles, hanging those fence sections – you get to see how the piece comes together. You're not just hanging artwork. You're helping build the experience the artist envisioned.
The Result
The finished installation exceeded expectations – both Windsor's and Begum's.
"The finished installation surpassed our expectations and those of the artist. Adjustments were made along the way, and the attention to detail was top-notch."
- Jane Smalley, The Gallery at Windsor
The work opened to the public in January 2026 and will remain on view through May. And when it's time to deinstall? Windsor has requested the same crew come back.
That's the best kind of compliment. It means we didn't just do the job – we did it in a way that made them want to work with us again.
For us, Reflection was a reminder that installation work isn't just about getting pieces on walls. It's about adapting when plans change, collaborating with venues that show up ready, and working with artists whose vision pushes materials into new territory.
We're glad Windsor – and Begum – trusted us with this one. And we're looking forward to heading back in May to carefully take it all down.
Got an exhibition that needs experienced hands? We'd love to hear about it.
The Denali install Team (left to right): Brendan Henning, Guy Overfelt, Carter Lashley, and Brittan Rosendahl.
Center: artist, Rana Begum.