Maja Ruznic, in the Saint Francis Auditorium, with one of her luminous paintings of dreamlike figures, flowers and other natural elements were put on top of the originals.

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St. Francis Auditorium, New Mexico Museum of Art

A series of oil paintings set in deep arched niches at this museum depict the building of Franciscan missions at New Mexican pueblos, where forced, sometimes violent conversions of Pueblo Indians took place. The soaring, churchlike setting, with 35-foot ceilings and timber beams, “was a pivotal point for me, quite honestly,” said Maja Ruznic, who escaped genocide during the Bosnian war and lived with her mother in refugee camps, finally settling in San Francisco.

Ruznic’s luminous paintings have taken up temporary residence in three niches. Dreamlike figures, flowers and other natural elements ebb and flow. As she worked, she said, a melancholy folk tune entered her head. Its refrain — “the rain is falling, the grass is growing, the field is green” — echoes the improvisatory feeling of the paintings.

In the camps, she recalled, “I would look up at the sun and feel assisted. Art became a survival language and a way to process something I didn’t have words for.”