Art

At 12 years old, Dahee Kwon, CC ’20, received a birthday gift that would kick-start her career as an artist: a sewing machine. She started sewing together pieces of her mother’s fabric into cushions, and today, she weaves together the contrasting fields of her majors: visual arts and computer science. At Columbia, Kwon is an aspiring visual artist who primarily works with oil paint.

Art X Social Justice’s inaugural event, “Stories in Paper,” featured paper-based artwork made by incarcerated people. Through workshops led by art therapist Laura Betancur, the artists constructed pieces in a variety styles, which reflected a range of experiences.

As students pass between classes in Schermerhorn Hall, its eighth and ninth floors provide an artistic respite from endless bulletin boards overfilled with flyers. Students have the chance to see a number of art pieces created by incarcerated individuals, bringing their rarely-heard voices to Columbia’s campus.

Origami cranes, a cappella and beatboxing, powerful performances: These are just a few of the artistic delights that greeted students in attendance at Columbia’s first International Human Rights Art Festival.

Italian artist Caravaggio’s painting “The Incredulity of St. Thomas” features his characteristic use of chiaroscuro, or the dramatic use of light and shadow. But what is most remarkable about the image is not only the artist’s rendering of the scene but also the subject matter itself: St. Thomas leans towards Christ, poking at his flesh in disbelief of Christ’s resurrection.

An ornate image of bucolic gardens inhabited by lounging Turkish poets engaged in conversation took up the screen in Schermerhorn’s eighth floor lecture hall. Though seemingly purely decorative, these manuscript images told a story in reflecting the essential values of Ottoman life during the 16th century.

The ornate ceiling and dramatic red curtains framed the auditorium screen that displayed the return of the Obelisk of Axum to Ethiopia. Museum of Modern Art curator Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi spoke of the importance of the obelisk’s physical return, as well as its cultural implications, while the audience watched the airplane to Ethiopia take off onscreen.

Tear gas. Colonial theft. Money connected to the opioid addiction crisis. These are not stakes one might typically associate with art museums, but all have been implicated by recent protests at the Guggenheim and Whitney, among other global art institutions.

The Leslie Marmon Silko Reading and Open Mic began with an acknowledgment of the stolen Lenape land on which Columbia’s campus resides. This moment of bittersweet resilience, brought forth by the tragedy of Indigenous land occupation and the triumph of reclaiming a lost voice, imbued the room with life. From that complex mix of emotions poetry, music, and art arose.

For the first time in over 70 years, the Art Humanities curriculum is the subject of serious review. The art history department hopes to create a more diverse and inclusive syllabus that will be adopted by next fall.