Friday Aug 26, 2016
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT
Friday, August 26, 2016
11 a.m.
Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College
Meet in the Myers Gallery to begin the tour.
Free Admission courtesy of Dale Montgomery '60
Open to the public.
No registration required.
Sandy Todd
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Join Cornell Fine Arts Museum Curator Amy Galpin as she gives a final tour of the exhibition Displacement: Symbols and Journeys, on view at the museum through September 4.
In our contemporary society, the concept of borders as geographic demarcations with political and economic ramifications is evoked frequently. Some of the artists in this exhibition such as Hugo Crosthwaite and David Taylor make work that directly addresses the multifaceted and complex border region between Mexico and the United States, while others deal more broadly with issues of displacement. No matter how tall or wide the physical barrier between the United States and Mexico grows, cultural influences will continue to migrate, permeate, and even ignore physical boundaries. Beyond the US/Mexico line other borders and their political and economic influences shape societies—these perimeters can hinder the paths of tourists, immigrants, and most poignantly, refugees. The lines that are drawn between one nation and another can be reformed, the physical boundaries that are built can be traversed, and the creative ingenuity of artists who embody liminal spaces between multiple cultures cannot be denied. The artists in the exhibition like Gajin Fujita and Sandra Ramos make work that relate distinctive cultural signs, symbols, and/or journeys. A number of works emphasize cultural colonialism and appropriation, while others address immigration, alienation, isolation, and hybridity. Certain works in the exhibition construct new narratives, while others deconstruct myths.
“The notions of ethnic and cultural identity, borders and boundaries, and the sense of belonging brought forth by the exhibition are extremely timely in this election year; we are proud to explore them through artistic expression, and to highlight their importance in the context of our mission as a college art museum,” states Ena Heller, director of the Cornell. Inspired in part by the Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art part of the museum's permanent collection, the exhibition looks at multiple manifestations of displacement. As a global existence is reinforced, displacement of symbols can occur. As a product of physical movement across borders, for some liminality becomes a powerful reality. Curator Amy Galpin explains, “I wanted to create a show for our community that melds my interest in artistic movement across the Mexico/U.S. Border, but that also provides a space to think about immigration and the power of cultural symbols to usurp political boundaries. The issues and themes related to this exhibition have been on my mind since I first began studying art, but as the 2016 U.S. presidential race gained momentum and the struggles of refugees from diverse places such as Syria and Central America became more apparent, I desired to produce a show that provided a space for contemplation and discussion about cultural hybridity and the human toll of migration.”
Printed courtesy of www.hispanicchamber.net – Contact the Hispanic Chamber of Metro Orlando for more information.
3201 E. Colonial Drive, Suite A20, Orlando, FL 32803 – (407) 428-5870 – Info@HispanicChamber.net