Below is an excerpt from the article “At MassArt Museum, Artists Examine Racial and Gender Systems,” published on WBUR’s The ARTery, and written by our Assistant Curator, Leah Triplett Harrington.
Skawennati, "She Gathers The Rain," 2018. (Courtesy MAAM)
Nice to meet you, MAAM.
MassArt Art Museum’s moniker, MAAM, is a name that I like to think intentionally plays on “ma’am,” given the feminist curatorial approach of its inaugural shows. “Valkyrie Mumbet,” “Game Changers” and “Yesterday is Here” include strong woman-identifying representation and contend with traditionally-femininized themes and materials, yes. But more than these surface gestures towards gender equality, MAAM’s first shows each deal with systems and networks as feminist aesthetics.
Museums as spaces for connection seems to be MAAM’s organizing principle.
Not only do its first exhibitions engage with the nature of systems and relationships, they also literally offer spaces to meet. (It seems quite intentional that each show includes ample seating.) MAAM’s first shows succeed most successfully when a framework for this is presented in a focused, yet expansive way, as in the show-stopping installation upstairs, or in a much subtler one along the museum’s stairs.
Joana Vasconcelos' "Valkyrie Mumbet" at MAAM. (Courtesy Will Howcroft/MassArt)
For instance, Joana Vasconcelos’ “Valkyrie Mumbet” is a mammoth yet meditative sculpture that makes room for people to walk under and around it. Sprawling and immersive, this vibrant octopus-like sculpture hangs from the ceiling. Belying its mass is its makeup of human-scaled handcrafted details — from crocheted swatches, to sequined roots, to golden beads and white lights — bringing viewers in closer for a more intimate examination. It’s a smart tension between macro and micro that parallels the work’s reflections on webs of knowledge…