Exhibitions and Scholarship

MA students and faculty produce a wide range of exhibitions, theses, talks, and publications that aim to decolonize art history; to dismantle systems of thought that presume the perspective of white, male, cisgendered, heterosexual, or colonizing subjects to be normative. Some examples include:

  • Ethiopian Art: Christian Narratives from the Kebra Nagast (February 27-May 14, 2020), curated by Morgan Ellsworth (MA Spring 2020), explored the contemporary and historical political functions of religious artworks related to the Kebra Nagast, Ethiopia’s sacred Christian text.
  • “Building Colonial Williamsburg during the Rise of Fascism” (American Studies Association, Material Culture Caucus, November 2019), talk presented by Prof. Kay Wells about racial segregation in the early design of Colonial Williamsburg.
  • Land – scape: Redefining Landscapes from the UWM Art collection (April 18-May 16, 2019), curated by graduate students in ARTHIST 507, challenged visitors to view landscapes through the lenses of deconstruction, ephemerality, power, and bodies, and to view the gallery itself as a landscape.
  • Face. Off. Faceoff. Mapping African Representations in Western Art Museums (February 28-April 4, 2019), curated by Samantha Maloney (MA Spring 2019), investigated how influential representations of African art objects, cultures, and histories within Western art museums impact contemporary museum audiences.