Featured Exhibition Image

2023 MFA THESIS | PART II

May 20 – Jun 4, 2023

 

This year’s 2023 Masters of Fine Arts thesis candidates hail from multiple countries. Their approaches to subject; methods of making; and unique combination of personal, political, and historical narratives challenge our assumptions so that we can collectively create a better tomorrow.

Seductive and sobering, Hadis Karami’s delicate multimedia work honors centuries-old women’s handicrafts while calling attention to the cruel practices and beliefs still enforced in her home country of Iran. Through her work Karami memorializes Iranian women murdered by their family members, and celebrates those claiming and redefining their own identity. 

 In Kierra LoRayne’s picturesque landscapes, botanical species reign supreme. Magical, surreal, and fantastical, LoRayne uses her memories and experiences to document and construct a new painterly immersive world. In these scenes micro becomes macro, and the familiar is unknown, encouraging us to refocus and rediscover the natural domain around us.

 Lucie March takes us into secret, otherworldly spaces. Juxtaposing sensuous, private views of female bodies and exposed, barren, man-made landscapes, her photographs (c)overtly reveal utopian and dystopian patterns, relationships, and states of being. Through March’s lens, a world that is simultaneously intimate and monumental comes into focus.  

Spanning three generations and two continents, Yuxiao Mu’s photographic constellation documents and, at times, embodies her grandmother’s dementia. The work was created in a tender collaboration between mothers and daughters – Mu guiding her mother in making pictures of Mu’s grandmother, which were then sent back to the artist. Mu’s edits of that pictorial dialogue reveals shared moods, sensations, and rituals. The result is a poetic tribute both questioning and commemorating our existence.

Piyu Somani’s atmospheric two-channel film is a quiet, wistful love letter. Sent to a love in a past home, the protagonist explores ways to share life, knowing that images and words cannot fully bridge the divide. A simple musical scale draws us closer to what we think is knowable, but just as the viewer must fill in gaps in the film, the love letter too, is ultimately elusive.

The theme of “home” is the common thread throughout the sculptural work of Jialin (Tiffany) Wang. Exploring definitions of home and homesickness, belonging and displacement, Wang utilizes ceramics, which she identifies as the medium that both symbolizes her identity as a foreigner as well as her history. 

 

– Lisa Tung, Executive Director, MassArt Art Museum (MAAM)

May 2023

 

View recording of 2023 MFA Thesis Artist Talks here.


Exhibition Images


Exhibition Archive

2024 MFA SUMMER Thesis | MassArt x SoWa | Sandrea Lovelock Williams Title Wall

2024 MFA SUMMER THESIS

Jul 20 – Aug 9, 2024

Matrescence at massArt x SoWa // Installation view featuring work from Amy Chan, Jasmien Chen, Tanya Nixon-Silberg and Catherine LeComte Lecce // Image courtesy curator Catherine LeComte Lecce

Matrescence

Jun 1 – Jul 14, 2024

2024 MFA Thesis

Apr 27 – May 26, 2024

border(less) // 2024 Alumni Curatorial Project at MassArt x SoWa // Photo by curator Yana Nosenko

border(less)

Mar 9 – Apr 21, 2024

Tender Farms at MassArt x SoWa // Spring 2024

Tender Farms

Jan 13 – Mar 3, 2024

2023 Design Biennial

Oct 21 – Nov 19, 2023

MassArt x SoWa // 2023 MFA Summer Thesis Exhibition

2023 MFA SUMMER THESIS

Jul 22 – Aug 13, 2023

MassArt x SoWa | In This Body of Mine 2023 | Stephanie

In this body of mine

Jun 10 – Jul 16, 2023

MassArt x SoWa | 2023 MFA Spring Thesis Part II | Installation view | Photo by Rebecca Morrison | Work from Hadis Karami + Kierra LoRayne

2023 MFA THESIS | PART II

May 20 – Jun 4, 2023

2023 MFA Thesis Exhibition (Part I) | MassArt x SoWa

2023 MFA THESIS | PART I

Apr 29 – May 14, 2023

Speculative Futurisms | MassArt x SoWa | Dennis Svoronos

Speculative Futurisms

Mar 11 – Apr 23, 2023

The Hour of Lead | MassArt x SoWa

The Hour of Lead

Jan 14 – Mar 5, 2023

2022 Design Biennial | MassArt x SoWa | Installation View | Meyer + Smillie

2022 Design Biennial

Nov 19 – Jan 8, 2023

The New Drawing Room | MassArt x SoWa | Karmimadeebora McMillan

The New Drawing Room

Aug 20 – Sep 25, 2022

Material Agency | MassArt SoWa | Stephanie Cardon

MATERIAL AGENCY

May 28 – Jul 17, 2022

2022 MFA THESIS EXHIBITION

Apr 23 – May 22, 2022

SOURCE at MassArt x SoWa 2022

SOURCE

Mar 12 – Apr 17, 2022

Triple Oscillation // MassArt x SoWa

Triple Oscillation

Jan 15 – Mar 6, 2022

The Nature of Your Departure

Dec 3 – Jan 9, 2022

Yeah, I'm Doing Great | MassArt x SoWa | Installation Shot

Yeah, I'm Doing Great

Oct 30 – Nov 28, 2021

Zaire Love | MassArt x SoWa Protest and Power

Protest and Power

Sep 24 – Oct 24, 2021

2021 MFA Spring Thesis

May 3 – Jun 6, 2021