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Caring Tactics for Narrative Representation: A Conversation with Dr. Meranda Roberts and Dr. Onur Öztürk (Spring 2022)

Colonial practices remain pervasive within the walls of cultural institutions: stolen objects from across the globe are divided into museum wings and categorized by imagined identities. This standard both curates non-Western cultures as monoliths and canonizes a Euro-centric worldview. “Caring Tactics for Narrative Representation” offers perspectives from Dr. Meranda Roberts (Indigenous curator, researcher, and advocate) and Dr. Onur Öztürk (Assistant Professor of Art History at Columbia College Chicago). Öztürk and Roberts will respectively discuss strategies and methodologies for re-presenting Islamic and Native American art and objects in institutions.

Moderated by:
Maya Ortiz Saucedo (MAAAP/MAAH 2024), Independent Curator

Featuring:
Dr. Meranda Roberts, Indigenous curator, researcher, and advocate

Dr. Onur Öztürk, Assistant Professor of Art History at Columbia College Chicago (Chicago)

Co-produced by:
Marielle Christena Mervau (MAAAP 2003)
Maya Ortiz Saucedo (MAAAP/MAAH 2024)
Georgia Rose Patterson (MAAAP 2023)
Madeleine Zimmerman (MAAAP/MAAH 2024)

Muppet Diplomacy: Children’s Media and Global Cultural Policy addresses how global, socio-political issues are communicated via children’s media and how fictional, lovable characters have been deployed across borders as advocates. From Elmo and his father Louie defining racism in the wake of the George Floyd protests in the United States; to Kami, an HIV-positive Muppet in South Africa promoting global health initiatives; to Noor and Aziz, sibling Rohingya Muppets living in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Children’s media serves as a dynamic platform for international representation and peacebuilding opportunities.

Moderated by:
Sidney Mori Garrett (MAAAP 2023)
Project Row Houses Curatorial Assistant and Arts Coordinator

Jamila Johnson (MAAAP 2023)
Student-in-Residence for the Association of Art Administration Educators

Featuring:
JooYoung Choi
Creator of “Cosmic Womb” and interdisciplinary artist (Houston)
Naomi Moland
Author of Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism?: Children’s Television and Globalized Multicultural Education (Washington, D.C.)

Co-produced by:
Erica Cheung (MAAAP/MAAH 2024)

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United States Artists has announced the recipients of their 2022 USA Fellowships, which includes three of our own SAIC community members: Andy Slater (BFA 2013), Jovencio de la Paz (BFA 2008), and Associate Professor Nicole Marroquin. Each artist will receive a $50,000 unrestricted award in addition to a year of financial planning.