Course Descriptions

Building on the foundation initiated in Creative Inquiry: Movements and Frameworks, we will explore the visual and cultural bases of our identities, shared and individual. Beginning from the historical reservoir of images that Allan Sekula named the shadow archive, we'll trace a trajectory within contemporary visual culture from 1960 to the present, grappling with theories of postmodernism, post-colonial theory, and (post) structuralism, as well as the implications of cultural (mis)appropriation and the dynamic exchange between art and mainstream media. Balancing art history, cultural theory and art practice, we'll explore the ways in which the cultural phenomena named by these theorists shape our art practices, and how we strategically insert our voices into the fray. During the semester we'll be joined by guest lecturers, Targol Mesbah and Duane Deterville, both scholars of visual studies. MFA student