TEACHING
ART 171 - Photography I
Credits - 4
An introduction to photography as an art form. Emphasis on establishing proficiency in digital and darkroom photographic processes. Coursework integrates effective oral and written communication to explore contemporary and historical practices within the medium and the role of art in human experience. This course emphasizes the development of skills with a focus on technique, contemporary and historical issues, and conceptual development.
Academic Major: Biology. 9” x 6,” Silver gelatin print from 35mm negative.
Academic Major: Biology. 9” x 6,” Silver gelatin print from 35mm negative.
Academic Major: Communication Arts (Video Production). 8” x 10,” Inkjet print from video still.
Academic Major: Environmental Studies. 7” x 5,” Silver gelatin print from 35mm negative.
Academic Major: Economics. 6” x 9,” Silver gelatin print from 35mm negative.
Academic Major: Studio Art. 8” x 10,” Inkjet print from digital capture.
Academic Major: Environmental Science. 6” x 9,” Silver gelatin print from 35mm negative.
Academic Major: Physics. Triptych, 4” x 6 each,” monochrome C-prints from digital capture on board.
18” x 16,” silver gelatin print from medium format negative.
14” x 11,” silver gelatin print from 35mm negative.
ART 271 - Photography II
Credits - 4
Focuses on technical proficiency in advanced and alternative darkroom and digital photographic techniques and processes. Coursework integrates effective oral and written communication to explore contemporary and historical practices within the medium and the role of art in human experience. This course emphasizes thoughtful application of skills and materials, using emerging and established trends to articulate ideas and create effective viewer experiences.
Academic Major: Studio Art. 22” x 17,” Inkjet print from camera-less “scan-gram.”
Academic Major: Studio Art. 20” x 16,” Silver Gelatin Print from large format negative.
Academic Major: Studio Art. 18” x 14,” Silver gelatin print from 35mm negative.
Academic Major: Neuroscience. 11” x 14,” Silver gelatin print from 35mm negative.
Academic Major: Studio Art. 10” x 10,” Accordion-fold book with writing, drawing, and silver gelatin prints from 35mm negatives.
Academic Major: Communication Arts. Stop-Motion animation, 3:02 minutes.
CLICK HERE TO SEE ANIMATION IN SEPARATE WINDOW
Academic Major: Studio Art. Dimensions Variable. Participatory performance project documented in a grid of Polaroid prints.
Academic Major: Studio Art. Dimensions Variable. Projections and backlit transparencies.
ART 155 - Introduction to Studio Art
Credits - 4
This one-semester introductory Studio Art course immerses students in an exploration of art concepts, formal skills, and critical practices, training them to become flexible thinkers, strong makers, and lifelong learners. The curriculum offers a survey of approaches to art that prepare students for the major and minor programs in Studio Art, and enables students to envision paths that combine academic disciplines and multiple Art mediums. This course prepares students to become skilled, aware, experimental artists. Sessions focus broadly on concepts, tools, and methods—including 2D and 3D processes, drawing, and digital art/new media, as well as broader liberal arts readings and discussions.
Academic Major: Studio Art, dimensions variable, gold-colored foil candy wrappers and tree
Academic Major: undecided, 10” approx, image transfer on ceramic plate, cutlery.
Academic Major: Studio Art, 18” x 24,” toothpaste, tea, and tar on paper.
Academic Major: Undeclared, 8” x 10” each, ink, collage, and acrylic on Bristol Board
Academic Major: undeclared, 3” x 4” each, collage and ink on photographs.
Academic Major: undeclared, 11” x 17”, acrylic, pastel, ink, and graphite on photocopied image
I’ve taught the following INDEPENDENT STUDY STUDIO ART COURSES
Advanced Color Photography
Alternative Processes
Advanced Black & White Photography
Large Format Photography
Academic Major: Communication Arts, 40” x 40,” archival inkjet print from medium format negative. Course: Advanced Color Photography
Academic Major: Studio Art, 20” x 16,” silver gelatin print from large format negative. Course: Advanced Black & White Photography
Academic Major: Art History, 20” x 20,” archival inkjet print from digital capture. Course: Advanced Color Photography
ART 580/583 - Junior Seminar/Advanced Studio Projects
Credits - 4
Junior Seminar is preparation for the Senior Project, all mediums. Advanced Studio Projects is the capstone course for the Studio Art Minor.
Academic Major: Art & Technology, 17” x 22,” Hand-reticulated inkjet print from digital capture.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF CALI’S WORK
Academic Major: Art & Technology, 17” x 22,” Hand-reticulated inkjet print from digital capture.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF CALI’S WORK
Academic Major: Biology, dimensions variable, inkjet prints on transparencies, hardware, wood.
Academic Major: Studio Art, 22” x 17,” Inkjet print and mixed media from 35mm negative.
Academic Major: Studio Art, 22” x 17,” Inkjet print and mixed media from 35mm negative.
Academic Major: Studio Art, 16” x 20,” inkjet print from 4x5 negative, clips, pins.
CLICK HERE TO SEE WORK BY GWEN SINGER
Academic Majors: Art & Technology and Studio Art, dimensions variable, tile, grout, wooden desk, burned sugar.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF SACHIKA’S WORK
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF JAYSA’S WORK
Academic Major: Pre-Health Professions, dimensions variable, clay with image transfers
Academic Major: Environmental Science, 20” x 16,” framed etching with photo corners and fabric.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HEATHER
Academic Major: Biochemistry, 15” x 15,” acrylic on canvas.
Academic Major: Environmental Science, 22” x 30,” graphite and colored pencil on paper.
Academic Major: Environmental Science, 9:10 minutes, animation and original music.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ANIMATION
Academic Major: Behavioral Economics, variable dimensions, sculptural installation and interactive technology.
Academic Major: Environmental Science, 20” x 10” x 12” approx., found objects and mixed media sculpture.
ART 620 - Senior Project (Studio Art or Art & Technology)
Credits - 4
A body of work in any medium is the capstone for Art Majors. The work is displayed in the galleries, with accompanying 15-20 page research paper and oral defense.
Academic Majors: Art & Technology and Communication Arts, 16” x 20,” duratrans on custom-built lightbox.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF NICHOLENA’S ARTWORK
Academic Majors: Art & Technology and Communication Arts, 16” x 20,” duratrans on custom-built lightbox.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF NICHOLENA’S ARTWORK
Academic Major: Studio Art, dimensions variable, reinforced concrete, light, sound.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF JAYSA’S ARTWORK
Academic Major: Studio Art, 41” x 14,” archival inkjet print, diptych.
CLICK HERE TO SEE WORK BY GWEN SINGER
Academic Major: Studio Art, 66” x 15,” archival inkjet print, diptych.
CLICK HERE TO SEE WORK BY GWEN SINGER
Academic Major: Studio Art, 30” x 89” x 79,” toothpicks, foam insulation, plywood.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF SACHIKA’S ARTWORK
Academic Major: Studio Art, 30” x 89” x 79,” toothpicks, foam insulation, plywood (detail)
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF SACHIKA’S ARTWORK
Academic Major: Studio Art, room dimensions approx 22’5” x 12’5"” x 10,’ 2x4 boards, drywall, paint, light, sound.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF JANOS’ ARTWORK
Academic Major: Studio Art, room dimensions approx 22’5” x 12’5"” x 10,’ 2x4 boards, drywall, paint, light, sound.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF JANOS’ ARTWORK
Academic Major: Studio Art, room dimensions approx 22’5” x 12’5"” x 10,’ 2x4 boards, drywall, paint, light, sound.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF JANOS’ ARTWORK
Academic Major: Studio Art, room dimensions approx 22’5” x 12’5"” x 10,’ 2x4 boards, drywall, paint, light, sound.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF JANOS’ ARTWORK
Academic Major: Studio Art, 12'“ x 16,” camera-less silver gelatin print.
Academic Major: Studio Art, 12'“ x 16,” camera-less silver gelatin prints (installation view)
Academic Major: Art & Technology, 20“ x 16,” archival inkjet print.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF ANNA’S ARTWORK
Academic Major: Art & Technology, 3” x 2,” liquid emulsion image on tree leaf.
Academic Major: Art & Technology, dimensions variable, face-mounted inkjet print on plexiglass, liquid emulsion image on stone, glass shelf.
Academic Major: Art & Technology, dimensions variable, mixed media installation.
Academic Major: Art & Technology, dimensions variable, mixed media installation (gallery view).
Academic Major: Studio Art, 8’ x 4’ each, carved King Starboard plastic plates with cast fiberglass resin sheets (gallery view).
Academic Majors: Spanish and Studio Art, 8’ x 4’, linoleum relief print.
Academic Major: Studio, 4’ x 8’ each, approx., spray paint and acrylic on particle board.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF ANDREW’S ARTWORK
Strange Encounters: Rethinking Place [Encuentros extraños: repensando el lugar]
Curso corto y exhibición con Darren Lee Miller, Profesor visitante y Artista residente
Este seminario de exhibición estuvo abierto a todos los estudiantes de artes visuales que trabajan en distintos medios. Como parte del objetivo del curso, se requirió a los alumnos reflexionar en su proceso de creación artística y hacer trabajos nuevos y experimentales, desde el marco de la teoría postcolonial y las teorías de género y queer. Propuse a los estudiantes la tesis de que los constructos teóricos antes mencionados tienen varios puntos de intersección: en cómo usamos nuestros cuerpos para performar(nos), en la extraña familiaridad de las relaciones de poder desiguales, en las (re)contextualizaciones fantásticas de objetos ordinarios, en la (re)presentación de viejas alegorías al servicio de problemas contemporáneos, en los efectos globales del cambio climático y en el (re)conocimiento de jerarquías de raza, clase, nacionalidad, etnicidad, género y sexo. Una y otra vez, los estudiantes preguntaban: ¿Cómo consideramos la teoría postcolonial cuando de hecho, aún somos sujetos coloniales?”.
La clase se reunió en solo cinco ocasiones. Una de las sesiones consistió en visitar la 4ta Trienal Poligráfica en el Museo del Arsenal de la Marina en Viejo San Juan. Dedicamos otra clase a una crítica grupal intensiva de las primeras etapas de los trabajos que verán en esta exhibición. En las otras tres reuniones, se les requirió a los estudiantes leer minuciosamente varios textos teóricos y hacer trabajos de improvisación inspirados en los discursos o respondiendo a ellos. Asimismo, presenté imágenes de las obras de 5 a 6 artistas, cuyos temas estaban relacionados a las lecturas asignadas. He aquí los temas y artistas estudiados, seguidos por las lecturas discutidas:
Lunes, 1 de febrero: Intervenciones performáticas. Artistas: Nao Bustamante, Coco Fusco, Yoko Ono, Genesis Breyer POrridge, Ai Weiwei, Yinka Shonibare
Martes, 2 de febrero: Objetos encontrados (ready-made), instalaciones. Artistas: El Anatsui, Tara Donovan, Pepón Osorio, Cornelia Parker, Félix González Torres
Jueves, 4 de febrero: Secuencia temática, narrativa, alegoría/simbolismo. Artistas: Alison Bechdel, Zanele Muholi, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley
Reconocimientos: Este curso y exhibición fueron posibles gracias a la generosa ayuda de Fernando Paes, Quintín Rivera, Luis (Rey) Chárriez, Javier Maldonado, Yamilet Álvarez, Carlos Ruiz, Jaime Santiago Cajigas, el Comité de Personal de Facultad del Allegheny College, y todos/as en el Departamento de Bellas Artes de la Universidad de Puerto Rico.
Lecturas del curso:
"The End of the World". "The End of the World". Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World. University of Minnesota Press, 2013. Pp.111-118. Web.
Bhabha, Homi. "The World and the Home". Social Text 31/32 (1992): Pp.141-152. Web.
4th POLY/GRAPHIC TRIENNIAL Exhibition Program, http://www.trienalsanjuan.com/educacin
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 2006: Pp. 613. Print.
Strange Encounters: Rethinking Place
Short Course and Exhibition with Darren Lee Miller, Visiting Professor and Artist-In-Residence
This exhibition seminar was open to all visual arts students working in any medium. During our class sessions, students were prompted to reflect upon their own art making -- and to make new, experimental works -- within the frameworks of postcolonial theory and gender/queer theory. The thesis I proposed to the students was that the above-mentioned theoretical constructs found their intersections in how we use our bodies to “perform” ourselves, in the uncanniness of unequal power dynamics, in fanciful (re)contextualizations of ordinary objects, in re-presenting old allegories in the service of contemporary problems, in the border-defying effects of climate change, and in (re)cognizing hierarchies of race, class, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and sex. Again and again, students asked, “How do we consider postcolonial theory when we are, in fact, still colonial subjects?”
We met for only five class sessions. One class period was a field trip to see the 4th POLY/GRAPHIC TRIENNIAL in the gallery of the Old Arsenal at the Spanish Marina in Old San Juan, and another was an intensive group critique of earlier drafts of the works you see in this exhibition. In the other three class sessions, students were required to do close readings of theoretical texts, and to make improvisational works inspired by or responding to the discourse. I presented images of works by 5 - 6 artists in each of the three class periods, related to the themes in the readings. The themes and artists are listed below, the readings are at the bottom of the page.
Monday, February 1: Performative interventions. Artists: Nao Bustamante, Coco Fusco, Yoko Ono, Genesis Breyer POrridge, Ai Weiwei, Yinka Shonibare
Tuesday, February 2: Readymade objects, immersive spaces. Artists: El Anatsui, Tara Donovan, Pepón Osorio, Cornelia Parker, Félix González Torres
Thursday, February 4: Theme Sequence, narrative, allegory/symbolism. Artists: Alison Bechdel, Zanele Muholi, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley
Acknowledgements: This course and exhibition were made possible by the generous assistance of Fernando Paes, Quintin Rivera, Luis (Rey) Charriez, Javier Maldonado, Yamilet Alvarez, Carlos Ruiz, Jaime Santiago Cajigas, the faculty resource committee at Allegheny College, and everyone at the University of Puerto Rico, Bellas Artes.
Course Readings:
“The End of the World”. “The End of the World”. Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World. University of Minnesota Press, 2013. Pp.111–118. Web.
Bhabha, Homi. “The World and the Home”. Social Text 31/32 (1992): Pp.141–152. Web.
4th POLY/GRAPHIC TRIENNIAL Exhibition Program, http://www.trienalsanjuan.com/educacin
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 2006: Pp. 613. Print.
Academic Major: Art & Technology, 24” x 18,” found objects and mixed media.
Academic Major: Art & Technology, 24” x 18,” acrylic on paper, mirror.
Academic Major: Masters Study in Speech Pathology, dimensions variable, photographs and metal chain.
Academic Major: Masters Study in Speech Pathology, dimensions variable, photographs and metal chain.
Academic Major: Art & Technology, dimensions variable, ink on paper.
Academic Major: Art & Technology, dimensions variable, ink on paper.
Academic Major: Environmental Design (architecture), 60” x 30” x 24”, acrylic and fiberglass on metal screen.
Academic Major: Environmental Design (architecture), 60” x 30” x 24”, acrylic and fiberglass on metal screen.
Academic Major: Undeclared, 12” x 20,” photographs, found objects, and paint on wood.
Academic Major: Undeclared, 12” x 20,” photographs, found objects, and paint on wood.
Academic Major: Painting and Sculpture, 100” x 48” x 36” approx., found objects and mixed media.
Academic Major: Painting and Sculpture, 100” x 48” x 36” approx., found objects and mixed media.
Academic Major: Photography, 48” x 60,” neckties and wire mesh.
Academic Major: Undeclared, dimensions variable, photograph and book pages.
Academic Major: Drawing, 2:00 minutes, video
Academic Major: Undeclared, 8” x 10” and 12” x 12,” acrylic on canvas.
Academic Major: Sculpture, 12” x 5,” found objects in wax.
PALAVRAS NA MINHA BOCA, STUDENT WORK
My spring 2020 Fulbright Fellowship ended just as we were getting started because of the global pandemic. We completed only 2 out of the 15 scheduled weeks before Brazil locked down, and Fulbright ordered all scholars to return home. I left Brazil in mid-March, and quarantined with my partner in San Juan, Puerto Rico until returning to Columbus, Ohio at the end of June. For an overview of the project, see my March 13, 2020 blog post.
A handful of the Brazilian students — with whom I’d worked for only two class sessions — volunteered to use the dialogue guidelines we’d devised to facilitate a personal conversation with a family member or close friend. This was not the project we had originally proposed but we decided, together, that even across thousands of miles and while being quarantined in different hemispheres, we would collaborate on this unforeseen iteration of the project. Our goal was to maintain social connection during a time of physical distancing.
CLICK HERE to read the project description I wrote before I was recalled from Brazil,
CLICK HERE to read the dialogue guidelines devised by our students,
and CLICK HERE for original project proposal I submitted to Fulbright when I applied for the grant.
For this new project, each student recorded and transcribed their vulnerable and thoughtful conversations, each lasting anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes, and then made creative works of their own based on those conversations. All of the students are in the first-year of UNESP’s Human Sciences major, they are not Art & Design students, and most of the photos/videos were captured on their mobile devices. The images in this gallery are captioned with carefully selected snippets of dialogue that formed the basis of the creative visual responses seen in the photos and videos, and we worked together to write the translations offered in parentheses, below.
Photograph
"sempre se ame em primeiro lugar…”
(always love yourself in the first place…)
Photograph
“O Estado está defendendo a gente de nós mesmos…”
(The State is defending us from ourselves…)
Video, 2:26 minutes, (CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO)
“Então, eu acho que assim, nunca foi dependência, mas o início foi meio que uma vontade por influência. Por exemplo a minha irmã mais velha usava maquiagem na época e a Nila sempre foi meu exemplo. Então eu falei “nossa! Quero ver como que é isso”. Aquela curiosidade de quem tem 10, 11 anos… como qualquer outra pessoa. Passou um tempo e foi mais necessidade de tipo “Ah! Eu tenho que tá com o rímel pra me sentir bem”. Aquela época da adolescência que a pele não tá tão bonita então você quer passar alguma coisa pra se sentir melhor sabe? Eu entendo que alí naquela época foi sim necessidade minha de tipo estar com a maquiagem pra me sentir bem. Mas com o passar dos anos e do tempo, eu fui vendo que não precisava daquilo. Você vai crescendo, vai amadurecendo… vai adquirindo a confiança em si, vai ganhando amor próprio e por exemplo, hoje em dia eu amo ficar sem maquiagem. Tem dias que eu olho e falo “É bom pra deixar a pele respirar, vou passar tal produto…” que inclusive é sempre a minha irmã que arranja os produtos porque ela é super antenada nisso, mas hoje em dia eu vejo a minha relação com a maquiagem mais como um ritual que eu tenho. Por exemplo, eu estudo de tarde na Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, então eu acordo, faço minhas coisas, treino, passeio com o cachorro né, e aí antes de sair pra ir pra aula, eu tenho o meu momento alí. O meu momento de cuidar de mim, de olhar, passar um rímel, passar uma coisa leve. Eu não uso maquiagem muito pesada, mas eu gosto de passar sabe, uma coisa que me faz bem por ser um ritual. No período da quarentena, eu percebi como é mais um ritual do que eu ainda imaginava porque assim, agora eu continuo acordando, continuo com a minha rotina e antes de ter aula eu gosto de preencher a minha sobrancelha, passar o corretivo e um blush e assim… Ninguém vai me ver, minha câmera não vai tá ligada na aula, mas eu gosto, por se tratar do ritual, por ser meu momento e a minha interação comigo mesma no dia.”
(It was never an addiction, but in the beginning it was because of her influence on me. For example, my older sister used to wear makeup and she was always my role model. I was like, “Wow! I want to see how this works.” That's the curiosity of a 10 or 11 years old, like any other kid. Time passed and it started to be more like a necessity, like “Oh, I need to wear mascara to feel good about myself.” It was a time in adolescence when my skin wasn't beautiful and I had to do something to feel better, you know? I think in that moment, yes it was a necessity, I needed to wear makeup to feel good. But over the years I started to see that I didn’t need that. You start to grow up, to mature… to acquire self reliance, self love, and nowadays I love going out without makeup. There are days when say “It is good to let the skin breathe, today I will take a pass on wearing makeup…” And it was always my sister who arranged the products because she was very attuned to it, but nowadays I see my relationship with makeup more like a ritual. For example, I study in the afternoons at Mackenzie Presbytarian University, so I wake up, do my things, work out, walk the dog, right, and before I leave for class I have my moment there. My time to take care of myself, to look, to apply mascara, to apply something light. I don't wear very heavy makeup, but I like to put on, you know, something that makes me feel good because it's a ritual. During the quarantine period I realized how much more of a ritual it is than I even imagined; because now, I keep waking up, continuing with my routine. Before I have class I like to fill my eyebrow, apply concealer and blush and so on. Nobody will see me, my camera won't be on during class, but I like it because it is a ritual, because it is my moment and my interaction with myself each day.)
Photographs (triptych)
“Ah, eu gostaria que soubessem que... A gente faz parte do que eles são. Tudo o que eles são eles devem à gente. Não "à gente" no sentido de obrigação, mas "devem" no sentido de eles estarem lá, porque a gente está aqui. Porque a gente tentou colaborar, fazer com que o mundo fosse melhor, com que nossos filhos e nossos netos fossem melhores, tivessem condições de vencerem na vida, no sentido de aprenderem muito mais, dentro do que fosse possível, do que eles fossem capazes e até ensinarem isso. Isso é importante...”
(Oh, I would like them to know that… We are part of what they are. Everything they are they owe to us. Not "to us" in terms of obligation, but "owe" in the meaning of they are alive because we were here. Because we tried to collaborate, to make the world better so our children and our grandchildren could be better (than us), to create conditions for them to have success in life, in the sense of learning much more, as much as possible, as they are capable of and so they can also pass it on. That's important…)
Video, 0:35 seconds, (CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO)
“Você acha que seres humanos devem algo uns aos outros?”
“Eu acho que tirando o respeito, quando a gente entende que o respeito compreende coisas como um bom diálogo, uma ética, e tudo isso, acho que a gente reconhece que não precisamos dever mais nada um pro outro além do respeito.”
(Do you think that human beings owe something to each other?)
(I think that apart from respect, when we understand that respect includes things like a good dialogue, ethics, and all that, I think that we will see that we don’t owe each other anything more than respect.)
“Nossa, o céu tá azulzinho, tá mó solzão, vai ser um dia incrível!”
"Principalmente pelo meu melhor amigo porque… muitos dos momentos em que eu estou extremamente confuso, é com a ajuda deles que eu me sinto melhor, assim.. São tipo um terapeuta que eu não pago, sabe?"
(Wow, the sky is blue, not a cloud in the sky, it will be an amazing day!)
(Especially by my best friend because… many times when I am extremely confused, it is with their help that I feel better… They are like a therapist that I don't pay, you know?)
“Eu tenho orgulho das minhas filhas, por elas serem como elas são mesmo não tendo muito espelho e elas seguirem com muita firmeza o que elas querem ser, isso me orgulha muito.”
(I'm proud of my daughters because they are like they are without having someone to look up to — like a mirror — and they have a strong sense of who they want be. That gives me so much pride.)
“Eu fiz essa foto em resposta a temas recorrentes nos diálogos dos alunos sobre como as tarefas diárias básicas às vezes parecem difíceis e sem sentido durante a pandemia. Originalmente, considerei fazer uma imagem em diálogo com a resposta de cada aluno, mas decidi contra isso porque não queria elevar minha interpretação e expressão sobre a deles.”
(I made this image in response to recurring themes in the student dialogues about how basic daily tasks sometimes feel difficult and pointless during the pandemic. Originally I’d considered making an image in dialogue to each student’s response, but decided against it because I did not want to elevate my interpretation and expression over theirs.)
EXL 594 - Freeze-Frame: Sri Lanka & the Politics of Representation (May - June 2016)
Credits - 4
An exploration of how Sri Lanka is strategically using religious (mythical) and modern symbolism to both sustain ancient traditions and create a newer, distinct ethnic national identity. We focus on the politics of (re)presentation in (re)constructing Sinhalese identity through art, media, and popular culture. If the nation is an “imagined community,” to recall Benedict Anderson’s words, then visual “freeze-frames” ideologically fix meaning and identity, employing specific sights/sites to conjure an “authentic” Sri Lanka, even as these embody contradictory global histories. Thus, the island’s political and mythic role in the ancient Hindu epic, the Ramayana, is evoked by contemporary Sinhalese tourism to assert pre-colonial origins, while the patriotic reworking of another Indian import, Buddhism, has been used to justify recent internal wars as “violence for the sake of peace.” And while 19th c. British colonial efforts made Ceylon tea globally ubiquitous as Lipton, it also brought Tamil indentured laborers to the island, creating an ethnic rift that culminated in the 21st century diasporic call for Tamil eelam (a separate Tamil nation). Studying what Stuart Hall identifies as “signifying practices,” helps deconstruct postcolonial nation-building strategies within globalization in terms of “who has the power, in what channels, to circulate which meanings to whom,” and to what end.
EXL 594 - Post-Modern Kaizen: The Continual Improvement of Japanese Aesthetics and Culture through Appropriation and Recontextualization (May - June 2018)
Credits - 4
An interdisciplinary examination of arts and culture as forms of communication. Kaizen (literally good change), is a popular philosophy of continuous improvement, reflecting how the ancient culture of this famously insular nation engages in postmodern processes of appropriation, re-contextualization, and eventual redeployment. Students discover how material forms of what we see as uniquely Japanese are really complex aesthetic choreographies of cultural identities where Japan both keeps foreignness at a distance and also incorporates outside influences that are then re-exported to the rest of the world. Students learn research methods and engage in intercultural studies pre-departure, and complete cultural research in Japan.
All student works © of the student named in the caption
