Identity Exhibition and Forum

Project Leader(s): Heather Harris, Art Museum of WVU

In Spring 2022, the Art Museum of WVU will host an original exhibition on the theme of identity featuring works by contemporary artists drawn from a prominent private collection in New York City as well as the museum’s holdings. Featuring noted artists such as Deborah Kass, Hung Liu, Robert Mapplethorpe, Mickalene Thomas, and Andy Warhol, the exhibition will explore how artists use painting, printmaking, photography, and sculpture as ways to negotiate a lived experience through aspects of the social construct of identity, including gender, sexuality, ethnicity, in/visibility, and acceptance. Grant funds will support the creation of a forum for a diverse group of students to engage with the exhibition’s themes and draw connections between the artists’ work and the students’ own identities. The museum will host an event in which students will tour the exhibition and craft creative, personal responses to the content. Their responses will then be featured on temporary displays and on the museum’s social media platforms. To ensure a broad range of students experience the event and get to share their identity expressions, the Art Museum will seek campus partners such as the LGBTQ+ Center and the Center for Black Culture and Research to promote the event and its creative outcomes.