We love to feature beautiful and interesting works of art that help to communicate and amplify our mission here at the Unit. Most of these pieces are the featured images you'll see at the top of our homepage but art in other areas of the site will be noted.
Working From the South of Theory: We are happy to share an installation view of Reena Saini Kallat’s “Woven Chronicle.” For a time lapse video of the piece, visit Kallat's website. There you can read the expanded explanation of the piece which we are excerpting here.
"We know that map orientation is completely arbitrary since travelling through 3-dimensional space there is no reference of up or down, considering the earth is a spherical body. Yet how we decide to map the world in 2-dimensions has very real consequences for how we think about it. Early Islamic maps favoured south at the top as most of the early Muslims cultures were north of Mecca, so they imagined looking up (south) towards it. Christians maps from the same era (called Mappa Mundi) put east at the top, towards the Garden of Eden and with Jerusalem in the centre. During the age of exploration, European cartographers followed the north-up convention since the North Star was their fixed reference point for navigation.
Complex politics of map-making over time and the inertia of convention, the north-up, Atlantic-cantered Mercator projection is the most prevalent, making it not only a navigational tool but also the image of the world in our mind’s eye."
(2018; circuit boards, speakers, electric wires and fittings; 144 x 504 x 24 in. l 366 x 1447 x 61 cm; Collection: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Roger Pietri Fund and Asian Benefactors Fund 2018)
Modern Critical Theory Lecture Series: This is a stunning installation view of Beatriz Milhazes's Avenida Paulista (2020) at Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP). Photo: Eduardo Ortega
Our faculty come from 10 colleges and 30 departments: This slide features Greg Allen's vibrant "Mycelium Matrix: Fruiting Bodies II (2015)" which is acrylic on canvas.
In Plain Sight: Reckoning with Anti-Asian Racism: This slide features a photo of a mural from the art series, I Still Believe in Our City, by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya. Photo by The New York Times. Visit I Still Believe in Our City to explore the full series.
In Plain Sight: Reckoning with Anti-Asian Racism Schedule of Events: This poster features an illustration by artist Marcos Chin.
Cathy Park Hong: A Conversation Moderated by Susan Koshy & Soo Ah Kwon: This poster features artwork by artist Jinju Lee.
Our Land Acknowledgment: We are so thankful to Waab-Shki-Makoons (Clayton Samuel King), a multimedia artist living in Ontario, Canada, for sharing his piece Nookmis and the Water Beings (acrylic on canvas). Visit White Bear Art to explore his full gallery.