Intersections, an immigration- and identity-themed art exhibit
‘Intersections’ will benefit the local Immigration Advocacy and Support Center.
The Connecticut College Art Department will present the work of Corina S. Alvarezdelugo, Rafael Colón, Guido Garaycochea, Mohamad Hafez, Tedman David Martínez Onofre, Nadine Renazile, and Pierre Sylvain in “Intersections: A Benefit Exhibition for the Immigration Advocacy and Support Center.”
This exhibition, on view Sept. 5 through Oct. 12, 2017 in the College’s Cummings Arts Center Galleries, brings together artists who were born outside the United States and now live and work in the region. A reception for the artists will take place Saturday, Sept. 23, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., in Cummings.
The trajectories of the participating artists, originally from Peru, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Haiti, and Syria and now working in New London, Middletown, New Haven, and New York, intersect generatively at this group show. While each artist’s emigration to the U.S. has been distinct, all share the experience of building community and making a home in a new place, while also remaining deeply connected across distance to people and places of origin.
Similarly, while these artists work in varied media—from painting to printmaking to sculptural installation—and are inspired by varied topics—from spiritual traditions to the War in Syria to gentrification—their featured works reflect common themes such as bridging cultures and negotiating the joys, struggles and sorrows created by gaps between communities past and present, near and far.
For this exhibition, artists have generously agreed to offer their work for sale with half of all proceeds donated to the Immigration Advocacy and Support Center (IASC). A New London-based non-profit, IASC supports immigrants by providing low cost, high quality legal services. IASC also works in the community more broadly to advocate for and educate about immigration policy. As part of this ongoing education and advocacy, IASC maintains a partnership with Connecticut College; each semester, several students intern with IASC.
Alongside and in support of this exhibition, three Connecticut College art major alumni—Miles Ladin ’90, Juan Flores ’16, and Melissa Luen ’17—will present selections of their work in Cummings’ 3rd floor gallery spaces. The featured works, also available for purchase with half the proceeds directed to IASC, all deal with im/migrant narratives and multicultural identities in the U.S.
To extend the exhibition’s impact, artist Mohamad Hafez will also give a public lecture on Wednesday, Sept. 13, from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. In addition, the Art Department and The Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts will co-host a panel discussion about immigrants’ rights and immigration policy on Saturday, Oct. 7, from 3 to 4 p.m. The panel features IASC attorney Mike Doyle and Lauren Burke, a 2006 graduate of Connecticut College who traveled across the U.S. offering free legal advice and policy training as part of her venture ImmigrationNation.
The exhibition and related programming are grounded in a commitment to foster inclusive art experiences and a desire to bring timely issues and diverse audiences together on campus. In every sense, it has been a collaborative effort—among and between Art Department faculty, artists, immigration advocates, and various Connecticut College entities and alumni.
This exhibition is the first initiative in a yearlong series of collaborative programming co-sponsored by the College’s Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Arts Division around the theme of “Intersections.” The exhibition is made possible with generous support from the Dayton Visiting Artist Fund, which enables students to encounter and learn from artists who might not otherwise be accessible in an academic setting.
For more information on the exhibition and events, go to the Art Department Facebook page or contact the Art Department at 860-439-2740.
For more information on the Immigration Advocacy and Support Center, go to: http://www.iascct.org.
August 22, 2017
