The first time Carrie Mae Weems H’17 came to Syracuse, she was an emerging artist with a restless curiosity and a camera. That was in the early 1980s, when —the internationally recognized artist residency program on the Syracuse University campus—invited her to come and work. She did not yet know that the city, and the University, would shape her life in ways she could not have anticipated, including meeting her husband, photographer and Light Work director Jeffrey Hoone.

Nearly 45 years later, Weems has come full circle. Appointed in January 2020 as the University’s inaugural artist in residence, Weems spent six years weaving herself into the fabric of the institution she had first encountered as a young artist. She is now concluding that tenure, leaving behind a legacy as layered and far-reaching as the bodies of work that have made her one of the most celebrated artists of her generation.

“Carrie Mae Weems’ work has long challenged the world to see with greater honesty and imagination, and she brought that same spirit to Syracuse University. Her presence here has strengthened our academic community in meaningful ways,” says Candace Campbell Jackson, senior vice president and chief of staff to Chancellor Emeritus Kent Syverud. “We thank her for her leadership, her artistry and the lasting imprint she has made on this campus. Carrie has defined possibilities for what the artist in residency can be, and for this we are truly grateful.”

A Legendary Career

Over four decades, Weems has built a practice that spans photography, text, audio, video, installation and performance. Her series “From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried” repurposed 36 appropriated images from the 19th and 20th centuries to interrogate the relationship between African American subjects and photographic history. Her “Kitchen Table Series” turned domestic space into a stage for intimate, complex narratives of Black womanhood.

The institutions that hold her work read like a map of the world’s great museums: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the National Gallery of Canada, among many others. In 2014, she became the first African American woman to receive a solo retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, a milestone she noted had arrived “really late in the day.” Rather than simply presenting her exhibition, she transformed the Guggenheim’s auditorium into a five-day convening of artists, thinkers and performers

Her honors include the 2013 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2023 Hasselblad Award, the Ford Foundation’s Art of Change Fellowship, the BZ Cultural Prize and the U.S. Department of State’s Medal of Arts. In October 2024, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. presented her with the National Medal of Arts at a White House ceremony, the highest honor the United States government bestows upon artists. She was the first African American female visual artist to receive it. Weems has installed a permanent work that will be featured in the Barack Obama Presidential Library, opening to the public in Chicago on June 19.

Yet for all the accolades, some of Weems’ most telling work during her Syracuse residency happened in studios, classrooms and conference rooms.

Mentorship Flowing in Both Directions

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, Weems went to her studio. She designed posters, billboards and campaigns that honored frontline workers. What began as a response to the situation in Syracuse became a national effort, eventually spreading worldwide. Shopping bags carrying text that she composed were distributed at food banks. Buttons, masks and murals went out by the thousands. Students were at the center of the work, packaging materials, designing alongside her and earning wages she insisted upon.

That insistence on reciprocity, on the idea that mentorship flows in both directions, threads through everything she did at the University. She founded the Institute of Sound and Style, a rigorous workshop for teenagers in Syracuse struggling against the weight of community violence.

Graduate students served as her assistants on the project, and she was candid about what she received in return. “As much as I found that I was helping them,” she said, “they were helping me as much as I was helping them. I’m not simply the giver. I’m also the receiver.”

In April 2024, she traveled to Florence to deliver a public lecture—”Resistance as an Act of Love”—to students enrolled in the , reviewing the work of studio arts students there. She then brought eight of those students to Venice for the Black Portraitures conference, held in concert with the Venice Biennale.

Her “Monumental Concerns” convenings, which she organized through the University and were held at the Museum of Modern Art, drew hundreds of scholars, artists and thinkers into conversation about monuments, memory and contested public space.

Engaging Deeply

“Through her residency, Carrie Mae Weems has created opportunities for Syracuse University to engage deeply with some of the most pressing cultural conversations of our time,” says Miranda Traudt, the University’s assistant��provost for strategic initiatives and director of arts. “By bringing together artists, scholars and communities, she has helped make this campus a hub for dialogue that shapes contemporary art and culture.”

At the celebration marking the close of her residency, held March 16 at Light Work, Campbell Jackson reflected on what it had meant to work alongside her. “You’ve shown us how essential creativity is to the strategic future of this institution,” she said, “and to our broader society.”

Weems herself was characteristically humble. “I never think that I’m doing anything that is important,” she said. “I just feel that I need to work at things that matter to me, that uplift me, that inspire me, that carry me.”

will present “New In: Recent Acquisitions at the Syracuse University Art Museum” at the Louise and Bernard Palitz Gallery through June 4, 2026. Featuring paintings, photographs, prints,��sculpture��and ceramics��acquired��since 2021, the exhibition reveals how��the��academic��museum puts new acquisitions to work in its galleries and study room, in faculty research and in conversations that reach beyond the museum walls.

“The museum’s wide-ranging collection provides opportunities to practice visual literacy and communication skills—essential to many fields and professions—across the University’s departments, schools,��and colleges,” says curator of education and academic outreach Kate Holohan. “In addition, teaching with objects is active, experiential and student-centered. Students themselves��analyze��visual��evidence in real time��in order to��pose��critical��questions,��develop interpretations of artworks and��make interdisciplinary connections.”

Many of the works on view have already been��activated��at the museum with University students and faculty.��“Hotel Paradise Café,”��a��resist-ground etching and engraving by Peter Milton, is��a layered composition of mirrors and reflections��and other works by Milton��were featured��in an exhibition��co-curated��by Lyndsay Gratch, associate professor of communication and rhetorical��studies,��and a 2024-2025 Art Museum Faculty Fellow.

Gratch brought students from her course Performance Studies into the galleries,��and��using Milton’s print,��explored��questions of reflexivity, positionality and how the act of looking is never neutral. The Faculty Fellows program,��,��engages��professors from disciplines across the University with the permanent collection to develop this kind of object-based��teaching.

The Faculty Fellows program and others like it��are part of a broader effort. The museum routinely welcomes classes into its galleries and study��room,��where students examine original works firsthand. In 2025, over 200 classes from 38 different departments on��campus��made��observations, weighed��evidence��and built��research questions in real time. It is the kind of sustained, object-driven engagement that distinguishes��the��teaching museum, and one reason the��SU��Art Museum has made expanding��the perspectives and lived experiences in the collection a priority.

That priority is on full display here.

A photograph by Chinese American artist Jarod Lew, from his series “In Between You and Your Shadow”��grapples with��the limits of knowing your family history��within the social��context of��Asian American��by recreating��a scene from his childhood.��In “Untitled (Snack),” a��handwritten Post-it note��sits before a��plate of cut fruit��left by his mother��as an after-school snack.��It’s��a��quiet, intimate��photograph, but one that carries the weight of a larger history:��Lew’s mother was the fiancée of Vincent Chin, whose 1982 murder became a turning point in Asian American��history.

A��monocast��rubber sculpture by��Niho��Kozuru��points toward the kind of interdisciplinary conversations the museum aims to foster, with the potential of��catalyzing conversations��with material scientists in chemistry and the College of Engineering and Computer Science��and curators of the plastics collection in the Special Collections Ressarch Center at Bird Library.

The exhibition also includes a screenprint by painter,��College of Visual and Performing Arts����alumnus and��Syracuse University��Art Museum Advisory Board member James Little, made to��support��the 150th anniversary of the Art Students League where he now teaches; a print from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation,��donated through��; and press photographs that build on the museum’s connection to the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Many of these works are on public view for the first time.

“These acquisitions��are a testament to��the Orange community’s commitment to the University’s mission of teaching and research, and demonstrate how a diverse collection��strengthens��those efforts,” says curator Melisa Yuen. “We are grateful for the��generous��donations that made this��exhibition��possible, through both gifts of art and through funds that allow us to��purchase��work strategically.”

“New In”��presents��a��portrait of a museum where��acquiring��a work of art is only the first step. At Syracuse,��students��catalogue, curate and build research questions through direct engagement with original��art.��This exhibition��invites visitors to��explore that��process and��encounter��the works��that make it possible.

“New In: Recent Acquisitions at the Syracuse University Art Museum” is on view��now��through June 4, 2026, at the Louise and Bernard Palitz Gallery in midtown Manhattan. For more information, visit�����ǰ� .

The Syracuse University Art Museum is now accepting applications for the 2026-27 Faculty Fellows program. The program supports faculty across all disciplines in bringing the museum’s collection of over 45,000 objects into their teaching.

Now in its fifth year, the Faculty Fellows program centers��on object-based teaching and research through an active,��experiential��approach that asks students to make close observations, analyze evidence and develop their own interpretations in real time. Up to four��fellows��will be selected and paired with museum staff—including curators Melissa Yuen and Kate Holohan—for a hands-on introduction to the collection and ongoing curricular support. Each Faculty Fellow receives a $2,500 stipend or research subsidy.

What’s Involved?

• Fellows work with museum staff to develop a museum visit lesson plan, at least one object-based student assignment and a collection-based teaching guide tied to a 2026-27 course.
• The bulk of the work takes place during the summer of 2026 (total time commitment of approximately50 hours).

Who can apply?

• The Faculty Fellows program is open to all University tenured, tenure-track and full-time non-tenure track faculty teaching in 2026-27.
• Proposals from any school, college or discipline are welcome.
• For fall 2026 courses, the museum especially welcomes proposals engaging in themes of ecology, climate change, consumption and material culture in connection with our upcoming exhibitions.

What you need to know

• More information including the entire call for applications andr equired application materials can be found on the .
• The museum’s collection can also be viewed .

Previous��Faculty Fellows

Colleen Cameron,��professor of practice in human development and family science in the College of Arts and Sciences,��is a Faculty Fellow for 2025-26 who integrated museum materials into her course, Healthcare Communications: Research, Theory and��Practice this past fall. As part of��the course, students selected an object that connected to death notification and presented their research at the end of the semester.

Omar��Cheta,��a 2023-24 Faculty Fellow and assistant professor of history in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs,��utilized��a carpet, painting and 19^th-century photograph in his course, The Middle East Since the Rise of Islam. Cheta��encouraged his students to��explore��traces��of the past��through material objects, rather than��just��through��textually transmitted ideas.

Elizabeth Wimer, assistant teaching professor��in��the Whitman School of Management, was a 2024-25 Faculty Fellow. She��explored how artistic representation of African culture relates to the continual evolution of the interconnectedness of the global economy through objects in the museum’s collection as part of her Managing in a Global Setting course.��Her work culminated in a Spring 2025 exhibition along with��a separate exhibition���ǰ�ganized by��Lindsay Gratch, a 2024-25 Faculty Fellow.

The Faculty Fellows program is made possible with the support of the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Office of Research.

This spring, the Syracuse University Art Museum will present three new exhibitions that challenge how we think about art, freedom and the human body. Together, they examine whose stories get told and how the images we see shape the way we understand our world and each other.

“Possible Worlds: 20 Years of the Wynn Newhouse Awards,” “Afterimages: Legacies of the Thirteenth Amendment” and “Undressed: The Nude in Dutch Art, circa 1550-1800″ will join the permanent collection exhibition “Human/Environment: 4,000 Years of Art” and the Art Wall Project by artist Bhen Alan, “Why Does My Adobo Taste Different?”

‘Possible Worlds: 20 Years of the Wynn Newhouse Awards’

For 20 years, the Wynn Newhouse Awards have recognized and celebrated the excellence of contemporary artists living with disabilities. This exhibition brings together 11 of those artists—painters, sculptors, photographers and video artists—chosen from 115 award recipients for the force and clarity of their work.

Curated by Daniel Fuller G’04, “Possible Worlds” spans generations and approaches. The works vary from quiet and intimate to bold and confrontational, exploring themes that include memory, time, care, power, communication and the body. The exhibition makes no attempt to define what disability means to these artists or present a unified narrative. Instead, it offers visitors a chance to spent meaningful time with each artist’s individual practice and consider how these artists navigate the art world— and the world at large—on their own terms.

Fuller will engage in a virtual conversation about the exhibition on Wednesday, Feb. 4, from 6 to 7 p.m. is free and required. A range of programming inspired by the exhibition will be presented throughout the semester.

Generous support for this exhibition is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the Joe and Emily Lowe Fund, Louise B. and Bernard G. Palitz Fund, the Burton Blatt Institute and the Center on Disability and Inclusion in the School of Education.

‘Afterimages: Legacies of the Thirteenth Amendment’

The 13th amendment, ratified by Congress in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. Except for a critical exception: slavery could continue as punishment for a crime. That loophole has shaped American life ever since, from convict leasing in the Jim Crow South to mass incarceration today.

“Afterimages,” curated by first-year graduate students in art history under the guidance of Associate Professor Sascha Scott, highlights art from the museum’s collection to trace this complicated legacy.

This exhibition invites reflection on the impact the amendment had on Black communities, as well as the continued violence and coerced labor still permitted through the exclusion clause. Themes explored include community, resistance and resilience present in abolitionist and civil rights movements, some of which persist today.

“Afterimages: Legacies of the Thirteenth Amendment” will be on view in the James F. White Gallery through March 8. A free curator talk, led by Scott and the student curators, will be held on Feb. 13 from 3 to 3:45 p.m.

‘Undressed: The Nude in Dutch Art, circa 1550–1800’

In the 1950s, influential British art critic Kenneth Clark argued that great art depicted not “naked” bodies but “nude” ones, elevated above everyday reality. “Undressed: The Nude in Dutch Art, circa 1550-1800” disrupts this conventional idea about nudity in art by examining the works artistically and within their cultural context. Encompassing 21 works across a range of mediums, the exhibition surveys the portrayal of nudity and semi-nudity in Dutch art over several centuries from artists including Rembrandt, Lievens and Goltzius.

This exhibition is curated by eight senior art history majors with the guidance of Distinguished Professor Wayne Franits, chair of the Department of Art and Music Histories in the College of Arts and Sciences. The student curators spent a semester considering what these works reveal about the “nude” within their cultural context and now they’re inviting visitors to look closely and draw their own conclusions.

The exhibition will be on view from March 17 to May 9. A free curator talk led by Franits and the student curators will be held on Thursday, April 2, from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m.

This exhibition is made possible with support from the Department of Art and Music Histories in the College of Arts and Sciences and includes loans from the Johnson Museum of Art, the Westphalen Collection in New York City and private collections.

For more information on exhibitions, events and museum hours, visit�� or explore the museum’s free digital guide on .

Syracuse University Art Museum will celebrate Professor Emeritus Sarah McCoubrey’s 34-year artistic legacy with a closing reception and artist talk Sept. 10 at Manhattan’s . The event is open to the public and will highlight the acclaimed artist’s multimedia environmental narratives featured in the exhibition “Currents: Sarah McCoubrey.”

The exhibition features a survey of McCoubrey’s exploration of a variety of media and output, including themes of ecology, technology, landscape and humanity. This retrospective exhibition examines McCoubrey’s career, showcasing her well-known landscape paintings alongside recent and never-before-seen paintings and drawings.

“Sarah has made a lasting impact not only on the landscape art genre but also on the lives and careers of countless students and members of the Syracuse community,” says Emily Dittman, director of the Syracuse University Art Museum, reflecting on McCoubrey’s impact on the University’s campus. “We are proud to showcase the breadth of her creative achievements and the profound influence she continues to have as both an artist and educator.”

The exhibition is timely for McCoubrey, who recently attained professor emeritus status after 34 years as a professor of painting in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Over the course of her career, she has been represented by the Locks Gallery in Philadelphia and has held significant solo exhibitions at institutions including the Everson Museum of Art, the Clifford Gallery at Colgate College, The Bannister Gallery at Rhode Island College, the Luther Brady Gallery at George Washington University, and the Morris Gallery at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. McCoubrey has also been the recipient of prestigious awards and fellowships including both a 2010 and 2004 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Painting and a 2006 New York State Council for the Arts Fellowship.

Fellow Syracuse University professor and��Currents��curator Andrew Saluti notes that McCoubrey’s work explores diverse themes and media with unexpected range. Saluti continues, “[McCoubrey] nimbly exposes the seriousness of man-made environmental disaster alongside the playfulness of a flying potato escaping that same terrible terrain, inviting us into a world that is both beautiful and disturbing, amusing and sober. As an educator, she has inspired generations of emerging artists in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University to think beyond traditional approaches and to be fearless in that process.”

“Currents: Sarah McCoubrey” will be on display until Sept. 18.

Four faculty members have been named Faculty Fellows for the 2025-26 academic year. The fellows program, now in its fourth year, supports innovative curriculum development and the fuller integration of the museum’s collection in University instruction. It was established to further the museum’s mission to be a museum-laboratory for exploration, experimentation and discussion and uniting the campus community across disciplines.

This year’s Museum Faculty Fellows are:

• , professor of practice in human development and family science, College of Arts and Sciences
• , visiting teaching professor, College of Law
• , associate professor of film and media arts, College of Visual and Performing Arts
• , professor of biomedical and chemical engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science

“This cohort is especially robust, with representation from schools and colleges that have not participated in the fellowship before,” says Miranda Traudt, assistant provost for strategic initiatives and director of the arts. “These faculty members bring an interesting approach to using the art collection to enhance coursework, and demonstrate how the arts contribute to experiential learning opportunities for faculty and students.”

Colleen Cameron: Healthcare Communication

Cameron plans to integrate museum materials into the course HFS 400 Healthcare Communication: Research, Theory and Practice this fall. Her aim is to “create a course where students can view healthcare communication though a lens influenced by humanities and social science frameworks.” As part of the course, students will select an object that connects to death notification, and will present it at a session held at the museum at the end of the semester. They will also engage in two object-based art experiences followed by reflective essays.

Maria Cudowska: Cultural Protection

Cudowska will use museum objects in the fall course LAW 882 National Security Research Center/Counterterrorism Center and/or the spring course LAW 897-M601 National Security Negotiations. “Object-based assignments and a visit to the museum’s collections [will] immerse students in the legal, policy and cultural dimensions of protecting art and heritage in conflict zones,” Cudowska says. “By treating cultural property as both a legal subject and a vessel of identity and diplomacy, students will develop the tools to evaluate and advocate for cultural protections within national security frameworks.”

Kelly Gallagher: Community Connections

Gallagher will use museum materials in the spring course FIL 500 Cameraless Filmmaking + Recycled Images. Students will learn numerous cameraless filmmaking techniques through hands-on teaching and practice. Following a visit to the museum, where staff will present 10 or more objects from the collection, students will choose a piece of art to serve as the inspiration for a short cameraless film. “My experience as a Faculty Fellow will enhance my teaching by encouraging me to return to a pillar of my pedagogy: connecting my students with our larger Syracuse community,” Gallagher says.

Shikha Nangia: From Artifacts to Materials Design With AI

This fall, Nangia will integrate museum artifacts into ECS 326 Engineering Materials, Properties and Processing to create an interdisciplinary learning experience. Students will study objects made of metals, ceramics, textiles and wood—linking core engineering principles to historical, cultural and artistic contexts. “By examining these materials, students gain hands-on insight into how properties influence design and function across time,” Nangia says. The course will also introduce AI tools to analyze artifacts and assist in designing a new material inspired by historical examples—bridging engineering, history and technology. “It’s a powerful opportunity to enrich learning by connecting course concepts to real-world materials and uncovering patterns through AI,” Nangia says.

Varied Perspectives

Kate Holohan, the museum’s curator of education and academic outreach, says, “Each fellow brings their own disciplinary perspectives to objects that the museum often presents in an art historical context. We’re excited to support innovative, interdisciplinary and experiential teaching and learning at the museum, and to see how the fellows’ engagement with art historical and museum-thinking bring new teaching frameworks to healthcare communication, national security law, filmmaking and engineering.”

The Faculty Fellows program is hosted by the museum with support from the Office of Strategic Initiatives and the Office of Research in Academic Affairs.

The University Art Museum has received a monumental gift of more than 80 traditional Indian patachitra scrolls, significantly expanding its collection of South Asian art and material culture.

The scrolls were donated by Geraldine Forbes, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita at the State University of New York at Oswego, whose career as a historian of India and teaching professor has shaped generations of scholarship on gender, visual culture and oral traditions in South Asia.

Patachitra, meaning “cloth picture” in Sanskrit, are hand-painted scrolls crafted by patuas (“scroll painters”) in the West Bengal region of eastern India. These vibrant scrolls are historically performed alongside narrative song which transforms them into a unique experience that straddles the line between visual art, oral history and performance.

Forbes began purchasing these scrolls because of her love for folk art and slowly amassed her collection over many trips to Calcutta. Now, she is concerned that such a dynamic art form is at risk of disappearing. As patuas have adapted to the rapidly changing media landscape of India, those performances are becoming less common. Many patuas have even eschewed traditional scroll painting in favor of selling painted souvenirs such as kettles, spoons and umbrellas at local flea markets

“Although India has a thriving art market, this folk art has not ‘caught’ on with galleries and buyers,” Forbes notes. “Unless things change, it is doubtful that [patachitra scrolls] will be continued to be painted.”

The scrolls in Forbes’ gift were created during the 1960s to the present day. Traditionally, patachitra scrolls depict mythological or folkloric scenes, while many in this collection address contemporary issues such as climate change, plastic pollution, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and even global political events like the 9/11 attacks. Their themes demonstrate the versatility and relevance of patachitra as an art form to capture both enduring myths and the challenges of our modern world.

Forbes feels that her collection of scrolls will endure the test of time and fit in with the museum’s already impressive collection of South Asian art and material culture, including Mithila paintings previously donated to the Museum by Susan Wadley, professor emerita in the anthropology department and Ford-Maxwell Professor of South Asian Studies.

“The fact that [the SU Art Museum] has the Ruth Reeves collection of folk art objects, as well as [Professor Emerita] Susan Wadley’s collection, [Associate Professor of Art History] Romita Ray’s interest and Melissa Yuen’s role at [the museum] made it an ideal location for my collection of Bengali scrolls,” Forbes says.

“We are honored to receive this gift from Geraldine,” says Emily Dittman, director of the Syracuse University Art Museum. “These hand painted, intricate scrolls represent a centuries-old storytelling tradition that is now at risk of disappearing. By preserving them, we not only safeguard a vital art form but also create meaningful opportunities for cross-cultural learning, research and engagement across campus and beyond”

With this generous gift, the Syracuse University Art Museum deepens its commitment to preserving and showcasing global visual cultures. Currently, the scrolls are being processed and catalogued by museum staff to be made available for scholars at a future date. The patachitra scrolls will support not only exhibitions, but also interdisciplinary research and curricular collaborations, offering students, faculty and the public access to a unique storytelling tradition.

Representatives from some 80 regional community-based organizations gathered at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown March 27 for an expo event hosted by Syracuse University’s . About 300 people attended.

The event was designed to facilitate dialogue and strengthen collaboration between individuals and organizations that serve Central New York, according to Lender Center Director Kendall Phillips. “The Lender Center is focused on increasing economic inclusion for all people and allowing them to create intergenerational wealth and stability. These organizations are on the front lines of providing support, resources and opportunities for all the communities in our region,” Phillips says.

Participants included organizations like Peace Inc., Syracuse Housing Authority, Vera House, Alzheimer’s Association of Central New York, Helio Health and InterFaith Works. Roundtable discussions, open forums and breakout sessions focused on the unique opportunities and challenges facing community-based organizations, including funding, burnout and effective advocacy. The event also featured tabling and networking opportunities.

The event was part of the Lender Center’s ongoing focus on the racial wealth gap, funded by a three-year, $2.7 million grant from MetLife Foundation.

University will host an exciting TEDx event on April 9, 2025 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Tan Auditorium of the National Veterans Resource Center, 101 Waverly Avenue, on the theme “Changing the Narrative.” The free event is open to students, faculty, alumni and members of the community and will feature thinkers, doers and innovators from a variety of fields who will share groundbreaking ideas and inspiring stories. Those interested in attending are encouraged to .

The theme of this year’s TEDx Syracuse University event invites both speakers and attendees to challenge conventional stories and reshape the way we think about the world. In a time where narratives—whether personal, cultural, or global—often influence perceptions and drive actions, the power to change the narrative holds the potential to unlock transformative change. At its core, changing the narrative is about creating spaces for voices to be heard and sharing stories that shape our lives, our communities and our futures. Five featured speakers will delve into their personal journeys and inspire attendees to take ownership of their own stories as they think critically about how they, too, can be part of changing the narrative in meaningful and positive ways. Attendees can also network, share ideas and engage with Syracuse University’s TEDx community.

Co-sponsored by Syracuse University Libraries and the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation, the event is being coordinated by (College of Visual and Performing Arts), who is majoring in Communications and Rhetorical Studies. Nkongnyu is an Our Time Has Come Scholar, as well as finance board member of the Syracuse Student Association, vice president of the Black Student Union, Mentor for JUMP Nation, and event coordinator for the Black Honors Society. He is also a writer for the Daily Orange and reporter for Citrus TV.

“In today’s world, our media and the messages we share have established narratives that affect the lens through which we all see our society,” notes Nkongnyu. “Changing the Narrative is meant to emphasize the role we all have as catalysts for positive change. Using our voices and platforms to positively influence, we can educate, empower and inspire others with our research, innovation and activism messages.”

Featured speakers and talk titles include:

• ’24, G’25: “Breaking Cycles, Not Ourselves””
• ’25: “Redefine Your Life”
• faculty, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications: “Be A Creator”
• ’24: “The Danger of A Single Narrative Story”
• ’10: “How Teaching Kids Emotional Intelligence Can Change the World”

“SU Libraries is pleased to sponsor TEDx at Syracuse University, and we hope it will spark thoughtful conversations and connections that will continue long after the event ends,” says David Seaman, dean of Syracuse University Libraries and University Librarian.

For more information about the event, or if special accommodations are needed, please contact Ryan Nkongnyu, rnkongny@syr.edu

For half a century, (POC) has served the University and local communities as a hub for artistic and literary exploration. Two special programs will be held this year in celebration of the organization’s 50th anniversary.

On Thursday, April 2, a reading by acclaimed Mexican American poet will kick off POC’s Cruel April poetry series, which is held annually in observance of National Poetry Month. The reading will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the , located in Shaffer Art Building on campus.

The event will also feature a pop-up show of five artist books commissioned in honor of POC’s 50th anniversary. The exclusive works—created by POC advisory board members (board president and associate professor of studio arts in the College of Visual and Performing Arts), Pedro Roth, Matías Roth, Joseph Kugielsky and Maritza Bautista—are inspired by Delgado’s poems and by poetry selections from POC’s early literary publications, including Argentine author Julio Cortázar’s “Five Erotic Sonnets.”

The 2025 Cruel April series is dedicated to the memory of poet , associate professor emeritus of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, who died in December. Burkard was a longtime partner of and contributor to POC, and his poetry was published in the POC poetry collection “Corresponding Voices, Vol. 4.”

Guests at the Delgado reading will also be able to view the exhibit “,” curated by , assistant professor of Latinx literature and culture, who will also speak at the event.

POC’s second 50th anniversary event will be a major exhibition of Latin American art from the permanent collection. “50 Sin Cuenta” will open Friday, Sept. 19, at the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Warehouse Gallery in the Nancy Cantor Warehouse, 350 West Fayette Street, Syracuse.

Artistic Evolution

Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact was founded by late scholar Pedro Cuperman. It began in 1975 as an independent editorial project at New York University, where Cuperman first taught when he migrated from Argentina in the late 1960s. He brought POC to Syracuse in 1976, and it evolved to include the “Corresponding Voices” book series, poetry editions and, in 2005, an art gallery. Cuperman, who died in 2016, taught Latin American literature and semiotics in the Arts and Sciences’ Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics for more than 40 years.

“I’ve always felt that Point of Contact is sort of a rare, hidden gem—a fiercely creative space where voices correspond across borders, disciplines and cultures,” says ’82, executive director of the Office of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Community. “I am incredibly fortunate to have spent 22 of those 50 years working closely with Pedro Cuperman and with so many amazing colleagues, artists, poets and scholars. Point of Contact has also served as a training ground for students, many who now hold top positions as arts administrators, curators and museum professionals across the country, extending the impact of our mission far beyond Syracuse.”

For more information about POC and scheduled events, visit .

A new exhibition at the Syracuse University Art Museum that challenges visitors to view the “tropics” as both place and perception is on view through May 10, 2025. “Joiri Minaya: Unseeing the Tropics at the Museum” features artworks by Joiri Minaya, a Dominican-United Statesian artist, and objects from the Syracuse University Art Museum collection. Curated by Cristina E. Pardo Porto, assistant professor of Latinx literatures and cultures in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, this exhibition brings together artworks that encourage reconsideration of the historical and contemporary misrepresentations that shape our perceptions of tropical regions.

“We are thrilled to host Joiri Minaya’s work at the museum in conversation with the permanent collection,” says museum Director Emily Dittman. “Her work invites visitors to examine their notions of the ‘tropics’ as well as expand that to thinking more broadly. We hope that this critical examination will provide a platform for conversations at the museum as well as in the community.”

When thinking of the “tropics,” the Caribbeans islands often come to mind. Palm-fringed horizons, sweeping ocean views and pristine beaches have become a visual shorthand for “tropicality” and suggest landscapes that are idyllic, untouched paradises.

The idea of the “tropics” dates to the 15th century, when Spanish and Anglo-European explorers and writers, and later, in the 19th century, photographers represented these regions as virgin paradises or dangerous territories, inhabited by peoples perceived as “primitive.” This framework has reduced the “tropics” to a narrow set of images that have shaped colonial legacies and commercial interests. “Joiri Minaya: Unseeing the Tropics at the Museum” challenges this idea. It encourages reconsideration of the historical and contemporary misrepresentations that shape our perceptions of tropical regions. By juxtaposing Minaya’s work, including video, installation, and photography, with 20th-century artworks from the museum’s collection, the exhibition invites an “unseeing” of the tropics.

The interpretive text in the exhibition is bilingual, providing both English and Spanish text for visitors. Support for this exhibition is provided by Centro de Estudio Hispánicos; Latino-Latin American Studies; and the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics in the College of Arts and Sciences; and the Program on Latin America and The Caribbean (PLACA) in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

About the Artist

Joiri Minaya (born 1990) is a Dominican-United Statesian multidisciplinary artist whose recent works focus on destabilizing historic and contemporary representations of an imagined tropical identity. Minaya attended the Escuela Nacional de Artes Visuales in Santo Domingo (2009), Altos de Chavón School of Design (2011) and Parsons the New School for Design (2013). She has participated in residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Guttenberg Arts, Smack Mellon, the Bronx Museum’s AIM Program and the NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists, Red Bull House of Art, the Lower East Side Printshop, ISCP, Art Omi, Vermont Studio Center, New Wave, Silver Art Projects and Fountainhead.

She has received awards, fellowships and grants from New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts, Jerome Hill, Artadia, the BRIC’s Colene Brown Art Prize, Socrates Sculpture Park, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Rema Hort Mann Foundation and the Nancy Graves Foundation, among other organizations. Minaya’s work is in the collections of the Santo Domingo Museo de Arte Moderno, the Centro León Jiménes, the Kemper Museum, El Museo del Barrio and several private collections.

Featured Events

On Opacity: Gallery Talk with Artist Joiri Minaya

March 18, 4:30 p.m., reception to follow

Syracuse University Art Museum

Lines of Flight: Screening + Q&A with Miryam Charles and Joiri Minaya

March 20, 6:30 p.m.

Presented by Light Work

Watson Theater, 316 Waverly Ave.

Community Day

March 29, noon-4 p.m.

Syracuse University Art Museum

Visit the museum’s website for more public programs surrounding the exhibition.

Light Work will present “Mater si, magistra no,” a solo exhibition by Nabil Harb, through April 25 in the Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery, 316 Waverly Ave. in Syracuse. An opening reception will take place in on Thursday, Jan. 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the gallery.

“Mater si, magistra no,” (a macaronic phrase that translates as “Mother yes, teacher no”) presents a series of black-and-white photographs that describe and depict moments and scenes within Harb’s hometown of Lakeland in Polk County, Florida. This Central Florida location is both the backdrop and main character of Harb’s visual narrative: a story that emits surreal qualities which twist ideas of the region through photography’s formal language into a conceptual idea—an idea of how to describe the atmosphere of a place without words.

“The landscape is the perfect reflection of our society, our ultimate index—it holds our histories, our secrets, our failures and our hopes for the future,” Harb says.

Harb uses his camera to look rather than gaze at wily scenes and moving bodies; his images disturb the before and after of a photograph by showing a moment extended or an instant flashed with a strobe. The narratives in this work are conflicting and intermingle with one another. The overriding story is one of man versus nature, of beauty and destruction coexisting in an atmosphere that is surreal, seductive and breathtaking. Where the conflicting notions of destruction and rebirth intersect is also the point at which Harb’s formalism and conceptual photographic practice meet, showing us the potential for beauty in destruction and foreboding rebirth.

Harb is a Palestinian American photographer born and raised in Polk County, Florida, where he still lives. Harb received his in�� bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of South Florida and his master of fine arts degree in photography from Yale University. His work has been featured in Aperture, The Atlantic, ArtReview, The Guardian and A24.

2025 B.F.A. Art Photography Annual

Light Work is also presenting the 2025 B.F.A. Art Photography Annual. This exhibition features work
by seniors from the Art Photography program in the Film and Media Arts Department at the
College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University. The exhibiting artists are Maxine
Brackbill, Charles Lavion, Kelsey Quinn Leary, Lili Moreno Martel, Shawn McCauley and Hazel
Wagner.

Each spring, seniors in the art photography program have the opportunity to exhibit a selection
of images from their senior thesis projects at Light Work. The senior thesis is a yearlong,
in-depth photographic exploration of a subject chosen by each student. The subjects of these
projects are wide-ranging, from very personal explorations of family and selfhood to sharp and
humorous experiments playing with the boundaries of fashion and studio photography. Students
choose, edit and print the images in collaboration and with the assistance of Light Work’s
curatorial staff and master printers.

“The B.F.A. Art Photography Annual is not only the first exhibition for many of the students in the Art Photography program, but also an important learning opportunity for them,” says Laura Heyman, associate professor of art photography. “In addition to giving students the space to imagine how the
images they create might exist beyond the walls of the university, the Art Photography Annual
introduces their work to their peers, the local community, and the renowned curators and critics.”
who jury the exhibition.”

Bruno Ceschel, founder of Self Publish Be Happy,�� served as juror and selected Brackbill’s images for Best in Show.

“Maxine Brackbill’s photographs address identity through lenses of gender, race and familial contexts, presenting biographies that are deeply personal yet universally relevant. These narratives emerge at a time when there is a growing visibility for diverse perspectives, but also an environment that feels increasingly hostile,” says Ceschel. “One particularly striking image of Maxine standing in water, confronting the viewer with a gaze that asserts her new body and new life, feels both vulnerable and defiant.”

An opening reception will take place in the Jeffrey J. Hoone Gallery at Light Work on Jan. 23 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Two spring-semester exhibitions at the will feature works curated by three faculty members.

“” features the work of 2024-25 Syracuse University Art Museum Faculty Fellows , associate professor of communication and rhetorical studies in the , and , assistant teaching professor of management in the Martin J. . Another exhibit, “,” is curated by , assistant professor of Latinx literatures and cultures in the .

The works will be on display in the Joe and Emily Lowe Galleries at the Art Museum from Tuesday, Jan. 21, through Saturday, May 10.

The Syracuse University Art Museum Faculty Fellows program supports innovative curriculum development and experiential learning and aims to more fully integrate the museum’s collection into the University’s academic life, says , museum director.

Gestures Study

Gratch’s exhibition, “Performance, Gesture and Reflection,” mirrors her performance studies course CRS 314, which explores the social, cultural and political dimensions of performance in various forms, including theater, dance, rituals, everyday life and media. The display features 23 objects that examine the social, cultural and political dimensions of performance, including how human gestures shape identity, power, memory and social relations.

Gratch says the portrayals “show gestures as more than isolated movements in a single time and place. Gestures are dynamic, culturally loaded and ever-changing symbols which have a wide range of social, political and historical meanings based on when, where, how, by whom and why a gesture is made and also interpreted.”��Gratch says the course and the exhibition illustrate how performance “is not necessarily something that’s theatrical or fake or put on, but actions we do as part of everyday life.”

Culture as Economy

Wimer’s exhibition consists of a dozen different artistic works that express key ideas regarding the global economy from an African perspective. These include viewing culture as an economic component; how culture is represented by proverbs and sayings passed from generation to generation; and how climate change and health care infrastructure affect people very differently depending on whether they live in the global south versus the global north.

The exhibition was created to complement Whitman’s required core class for all sophomores, Managing in a Global Setting, to bring a different perspective on key course concepts such as infrastructure, human capital and globalization.

As an extension of that course, Wimer and students who have applied for and been accepted to Whitman’s Kenya Immersion Experience undertake a 10-day business immersion trip to Kenya. There, they can see firsthand how creative and artistic works provide paths to financial opportunity for people who live in limited economic situations, while also sometimes meeting the Kenyan artists.

“[They see that] artist creations are not solely artistic expression as a work of art but as works that help them sustain a living. Both have beauty, but the inspiration behind the beauty is very different,” she says.

Tropical Images

Pardo Porto’s exhibition is a collection of work by acclaimed New York City-based Dominican artist in conversation with selected works from the Syracuse University Art Museum collection. It examines the visual culture of tropicality through stereotypical depictions of landscapes like pristine beaches and sunny skies, as well as racist portrayals of women as exoticized figures, Pardo Porto says.

The exhibition consists of objects including postcards, tourist brochure images, fabric from Hawaiian shirts, posters and photographs, and video and sound performances ranging from the late 19^th century to the present. “This emphasizes part of my research into how the images surrounding us shape our perception, our thinking and our feelings about places like the Caribbean and how we relate to images in our daily lives,” Pardo Porto says.

The exhibit is being incorporated into two of Pardo Porto’s courses. An undergraduate course on contemporary Latinx art, conducted entirely in Spanish, uses the Spanish-language artwork labels and tags in the exhibit as part of class lessons. A graduate seminar focuses on theorizing race and diaspora and how an artist like Minaya, who was born in New York City but has Dominican heritage, examines how diasporic identities are constructed and how being separated from community can complicate identity. Pardo Porto says Minaya will visit campus to give a talk, work with students and share interpretations of her art with the community.

Nine digital collections from ’s Cultural Memory Archive are now publicly available in the thanks to a grant from the (CLRC). The Digital Library Program at , in collaboration with La Casita, submitted the grant application to CLRC in 2020 to create digital access to the history and experience of Latine/Hispanic communities in Central and Upstate New York to advance scholarly research and understanding around this underrepresented culture in this region. The Libraries is the largest academic library in the CLRC region.

The collections include:

As the has observed in “A Guide to Documenting Latino/Hispanic History and Culture in New York State,” “Historical information is inadequately represented in the documentation of broad areas of Hispanic culture, including the fine arts, popular music and dance forms, and folk and traditional arts.” ��Information pertaining to Hispanic businesses as well as the social, political and religious organizations of the community is also limited, and the historical record has poorly reflected Latine experiences related to immigration, discrimination and access to services.

These nine digital collections will begin to remedy the documentation gap relating to the Syracuse Latine community, supporting further work and study in the fields of anthropology, sociology, art, history and Latine studies. La Casita maintains both its physical and digital objects and collections with support from the Libraries, the , the and in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, as well as from community partners including the , the and other colleges and educational institutions in the region.

“The collaboration between La Casita, Syracuse University Libraries, CLRC and the NY Heritage Digital Collections is a wonderful, combined effort that benefits all parties and the greater community, ensuring that these important resources are preserved and discovered by scholars, researchers and community members,” says Elisa Dekaney, associate provost for strategic initiatives.

��includes over 400,000 digitized books, manuscripts, maps, letters, photographs and memorabilia. New York Heritage provides access to stories spanning the history of New York, with contributions from over 430 libraries, museums, archives and other community organizations.

“It is very exciting to see one of La Casita’s long-term goals, to make our Cultural Memory Archive accessible online, finally become a reality,” says Tere Paniagua ’82, executive director of the University’s Office of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Community. “This is a project developed by La Casita’s Bilingual Library, one that we have been working on for over a decade. Many graduate students from the University’s have contributed to the project, and now that the platform was created for these first nine collections, we welcome more students to take on the task of building new online collections.”

Déirdre Joyce, head of digital stewardship and the Digital Library, added that “the Digital Library Program supports library, campus and community partnerships that find creative ways to publish and express their unique, local digital output to wider digital audiences. In this case, we were delighted to leverage the Libraries’ membership with CLRC on behalf of La Casita, thereby making this content–and�� and the stories of this diverse, Syracuse community–broadly discoverable in New York Heritage. We look forward to continuing this important collaboration.”

A new exhibition, “Libro de Artista,” comprising a showcase of the Argentine National Museum’s Artist Book Collection, is now available for viewing at Syracuse University in what is the collection’s first showing in the United States.

More than 60 pieces from the institutional collection are featured in the show, housed at the of the University’s Nancy Cantor Warehouse Building at 350 W. Fayette St. The show runs through Friday, Nov. 22. Admission is free and open to the public.

The exhibition is a production of the University’s POC) gallery in partnership with the (MNBA) and the University’s in the .

Latin American creators represented in the exhibition include artist books by Diana Dowek, Luis Felipe Noé, Lucrecia Orloff, Jacques Bedel, Daniel García, Miguel Harte, Carolina Antoniadis, Marcos López and Marcia Schvartz. The exhibition also includes the Agentinian museum’s latest accession to the collection, a piece co-authored by Argentine artists Pedro Roth and the late Syracuse University professor and POC founder Pedro Cuperman.

“It is an honor to partner with MNBA in its first showing of the ‘Libro de Artista’ collection in the United States,” said , executive director of the Office of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Community at Syracuse University.

“Point of Contact worked in close collaboration with the Roth family of creators and with the National Ministry of Culture of Argentina in exhibitions at the New York Art Book Fair held at MoMA PS1 from 2012 to 2018. ‘Libro de Artista’ culminates such a project with this timely exhibit as we commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month 2024,”she says.

Andrés Duprat, MNBA director, explains the art form. He says, “The artist book or Libro de Artista is generally not considered a work of art in itself, but for us, it holds great interest because it is in artist books where explorations, intentions, sketches, and even doubts and regrets or new searches are revealed.”

In terms of artist techniques, formats and materials, artist books take many forms on paper, cardboard, celluloid, acrylic, metal and other materials, transforming into boxes, intervened prints, collages and pop-up books.

One of the pieces in the show, “La Dama del Río,” is a collaborative work with original texts by Pedro Cuperman and illustrations by Pedro Roth. Pedro Roth is a recipient of the 2023 National Award for Artistic Trajectory, an honor bestowed by the National Ministry of Culture recognizing the exceptional path and contributions of living Argentine creators inducted to the National Gallery of Visual Arts.

“Point of Contact, soon to commemorate its 50th anniversary, has much to celebrate with the accession of this piece to the MNBA’s permanent collection,” says Matias Roth, curator of the “Libro de Artista” Buenos Aires exhibition and an exhibiting artist in the show. “As a member of the Point of Contact board of directors and longtime collaborator of both POC and the National Museum, I greatly appreciate that this work will be preserved in Argentina’s National Art Collection.”