The University Art Gallery of the University of the South is delighted to present Behind the SEEN: Process, Performance, and Practice in the Work of Fahamu Pecou, an exhibition of paintings and never-before-seen photographs from the artist's studio sessions. Throughout his work, Pecou manipulates roles and stereotypes in order to question how Black masculinity and identity are imagined, circumscribed, and read. Associations of high and low are reversed, and the conventions and symbols of pop culture, of Trap music, of Yoruba culture, of academia, are combined to thwart expectations. Pecou’s compelling images invite and challenge the viewer, and work, in his words, “to subvert the gaze,” that is, to make us think about our own act of looking. Carefully orchestrated photo sessions, planned in collaboration with photographers, stylists, make-up artists, and models, are the starting point for each of his projects.
The University Art Gallery fulfills an essential role on campus. Devoted to exhibitions of contemporary art, the UAG fosters innovation and creativity, and experiential and visual learning. UAG exhibitions encourage conversation beyond the classroom, between all the members of our community, and a welcoming and diverse campus community.
Working together, faculty members and the Director and Curator of Academic Engagement build productive ways for UAG exhibitions and events to support courses across the curriculum. Students contribute to exhibitions and programming, they visit exhibitions to consider course themes and questions, they have conversations with visiting artists, they use artists’ methodologies and work as inspiration for class assignments, they put their foreign language skills to work in a community setting outside the classroom. Use the button below to contact Shelley MacLaren, Director and Curator of Academic Engagement, to discuss possibilities for your classes.
If you would like to receive announcements via email of upcoming University Art Gallery exhibitions and events, submit your email address in the form. Be sure to follow the UAG on Facebook, too.
The arts and what they teach us are more essential than ever. The arts inspire us, and fire the imagination. They teach us creative problem solving, and how to meet challenges with imagination, flexibility, and invention. If you would like to offer your support to exceptional exhibitions and event programming as a Friend of the University Art Gallery, please follow the link below, select “Other” for your Designation, and write “Friends of the UAG” under “Specific program or initiative.” Thank you!
Committed to modeling the interdisciplinary work and collaboration essential to a Liberal Arts education, the arts at Sewanee work to bring together art, music, and dance, and to give our students opportunities to experiment, perform, and reach new audiences, whether by means of a campus-wide Gallery Walk, by means of filmed performances shared with remote audiences, or by means of pop-up collaborative events across campus. Be ready to be delighted and inspired!
The University Art Gallery was honored to present Allegiance, a quiet and intimate exhibition of complex and beautiful woven textiles by Los Angeles-based artist Diedrick Brackens, on view from Oct. 25 through Dec. 13, 2019.
In Allegiance, Brackens plays with our expectations and associations, turning symbols, lyrics, and materials to new purposes. He refashions American and Confederate flags, he quotes and recasts the lyrics to the minstrel song Dixie and to the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, he makes the language of advertising both sentimental and subversive, and he - an African American whose antecedents picked cotton in Texas - self-consciously transforms that fraught material into beautiful textiles.
Sewanee provides funding for an approved summer internship or research fellowship, a semester-long study abroad opportunity at no additional tuition cost, and the ability to graduate with one major in four years. Of course, you will have to do your part. If you meet Sewanee’s academic and social expectations, these opportunities will be provided.
Our small classes mean that your voice will be heard, your contribution will be expected, and your opinion will be listened to (and disagreed with, and challenged, and seen from a different perspective, and pushed in a new direction, and considered—and you know what? Maybe we’re both right. See how it works?).
We're a community where everyone has a place and there's a place for everyone. Group study? We'll bring our notes. Rock climbing? We're geared up and ready. Jam session? Sure, we'll play with you. Whatever you want to do, at Sewanee, you'll never have to go it alone. Unless you need your space. Then, we totally get it.
