Courtesy of American University Museum.The American University MFA Studio Art cohort, Class of 2022 is pleased to present the exhibition, in·position, at the American University Museum opened on April 23, 2022. The exhibition will remain on view through May 22, 2022.
The inescapable implications of our respective positionalities and vulnerabilities are critically interrogated and contended with, here and now. As we look outwards, we look inwards – aware of the plethora of identities, bodies, and materials that intimately shape the position from which our perspectives are formed. Journey inwards to the realities of our present.
The following artists are included in the exhibition: Patrick Burns, Shiloah Symone Coley, Hyunsuk Erickson, Anthony Frank, Katie Hartley, Nicole Maloof, Ku·bar·i·ki·wa M. Rudd and Kevin Runyon. Please find an essay written by Claudia M. Watts for the occasion of in·position below.
Channeling themes of historical excavation, second life phenomena, latent group think, and restorative connectivity to nature, in·position offers a kaleidoscopic glimpse into the psyche of eight artists. Each contends with different societal pressures, knowledge gained, information absorbed, and the resulting emotional responses that tint their respective lenses of perception. In this space, the external, manufactured world, and the desire for a cultivated existence meet with discord.
As the artists continuously re-examine their relationships with both the built and natural environments, the push and pull of self-interrogation transforms critique into creation. Through recalibration, the colors of experience, opinion, and truth mix, shift, and change. As the intensity and awareness of these elements wax and wane.
Claiming and refining these internal positions bore the 2022 MFA thesis exhibition. Mediums of expression were chosen for the evocative nature of their physical forms. Simultaneously, they serve as a framework for the layers of context needed to deliver each message. Viewers are invited to pay attention, self-inquire, and perhaps, find new placement within the larger collective of being.
