Who Takes the Weight, Faheem Majeed’s first exhibition in Boston showcases two large-scale site-specific installations in the galleries at SMFA at Tufts, engaging with architectural, institutional, and community histories. A resident of the South Shore neighborhood in Chicago, Majeed transforms materials such as particle board, scrap metal, and billboard remnants, breathing new life into these often overlooked and devalued materials. These works take inspiration from the institution-building legacies of Boston cultural icon Ms. Elma Lewis and Chicago artist, educator, and poet Dr. Margaret Burroughs. Who Takes the Weight is organized by Abigail Satinsky, Curator.
In Medford at the Aidekman Arts Center, Bookworks presents a wide-ranging exploration of the practice of artist-made books, drawing on the contemporary artists’ books and special collections at Tufts University. Tracing an arc from the singular book-object to the form as a collective space, this exhibition features work by Sonia Almeida, Jen Bervin, Laura Blacklow, Carolina Caycedo, Paul Chan, Julie Chen, Marisa Jahn, Steffani Jemison and Jamal Cyrus, Angela Lorenz, LTTR, Heidi Neilson, Klaus Scherübel, Dayanita Singh, and Chantal Zakari + Mike Mandel, among others. Bookworks is organized by Dina Deitsch, Director and Chief Curator, with Chiara Pidatella, Research Curator, and Graduate Fellows Emily Chun AG20 and Kevin Vogelaar AG20.
Also, on view in Medford, Stack, Layer, and Arrange is the first comprehensive retrospective of Julie S. Graham (1947–2018), Boston- based painter and beloved instructor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at Tufts. Guest curated by Martina Tanga. And opening October 8, Sanford Biggers is the first exhibition focused on the artist’s BAM series, begun in 2015, which memorializes, and honors unarmed black victims of police gun violence in America. Through video, sculpture, and textiles, Biggers brings to light the pain these acts have perpetrated upon society, but also points to the wider human condition and a desire to transcend. Organized by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.
TUAG’s cross-campus public projects, with a focus on issues of immigration, includes installations by Press Press, Kimi Hanauer, and Jenny Polak. Press Press, an interdisciplinary publishing initiative, explores the notion of sanctuary with Sanctuary is on the Horizon on view in Medford. Calling All Denizens, by Press Press’s cofounder Kimi Hanauer, is a billboard, installation, and reading space, that imagines “denizenship” as an alternative to the traditional notion of citizenship at SMFA at Tufts. At the two gallery locations Jenny Polak: ICE Escape Signs at Tufts University reframes immigrant-citizen relations, amplifying demands for social justice through site- and community- responsive signs.
For a full listing of programs and events, visit our website.
SMFA at Tufts / Boston
Faheem Majeed: Who Takes the Weight
August 22—October 26, 2019
Opening and roundtable conversation: Thursday, September 12, 6—8pm
Visiting Artist Program:
Aliza Nisenbaum: Wednesday, October 30, 6pm
Firelei Báez: Wednesday, November 6, 7pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Aidekman Arts Center / Medford
Bookworks
August 22—December 15, 2019
Opening: Thursday, September 5, 6—8pm
Julie S. Graham: Stack, Layer, and Arrange
August 22—September 29, 2019
Opening: Thursday, September 5, 6—8pm
Sanford Biggers
October 8—December 15, 2019
Annual Beckwith Lecture: Sanford Biggers + Christa Clarke: Wednesday, October 16, 7pm
About Tufts University Art Galleries
The Art Galleries engage with artists, scholars, and works of art to provoke conversation around today’s pressing cultural and social issues. Through exhibitions and programming focused on contemporary art, alongside broader research and collecting, we provide a pedagogical space for the Tufts community and wider publics.
