The artists in History Lessons share new ways of learning, preserving, and making history. They situate themselves as subjects in history and literature, writing counter-narratives as they speak to larger systemic questions about how we teach and remember the past. Working in a range of media and across generations, they share commitments to collaboration, activism, and pedagogy. Handmade and printed texts that appear in their work recall a range of sources, from protest signs to newspapers, and challenge how official texts of history have been written.
In conversation with work from the University at Albany Fine Art Collections, the exhibition will feature works on loan by artists including: Bethany Collins, Demian DinéYazhi’, General Idea, Jeffrey Gibson, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Corita Kent, Glenn Ligon, Joe Mama-Nitzberg, and Kameelah Janan Rasheed. Featured artists from the Collections include: Judith Braun, Colin Chase, Daniela Comani, Leon Golub, Louise Nevelson, and Tim Rollins and K.O.S.
Supported by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, the Ann C. Mataraso Fund, the Robin Kanson Lewis ’70 Exhibition Endowment Fund, the University Auxiliary Services at Albany, and the Jack and Gertrude Horan Memorial Fund for Student Outreach.
Image credit:
Judith Braun, Weinpersonally Yours #9, 1993 – 1994, 4 x 5 ½ inches, collection of University Art Museum, University at Albany, State University of New York on behalf of The University at Albany Foundation, gift of Corinna Ripps Schaming, image courtesy of the artist