Terraforms is a new exhibition in the Seaver Gallery curated by Marlborough alumna Mika Yoshitake ’95. Yoshitake is an independent curator with expertise in both postwar and contemporary Japanese art. She received her MA and PhD in Art History from UCLA, which culminated in the creation of her exhibition and catalog, “Requiem for the Sun: The Art of Mono-ha,” which won the United States section of the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art (AICA-USA) award in 2012. She has organized exhibitions for many notable artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Yoshitomo Nara, Lee Ufan and Takashi Murakami.
Visual Arts Department Head Chelsea Dean worked with Yoshitake to bring Terraforms to life.
“It was a shot in the dark,” Dean said. “I didn’t know if she would be interested or if all the pieces would fit together.”
Terraforms features work from artists Sarah Rosalena, Sandy Rodriguez and Bently Spang, who each explore themes of environmental and social justice. The exhibition is inspired by the concept of “terraforming,” or deliberately modifying the Earth’s atmosphere, temperature, surface topography and ecology to make it habitable for life.
Sarah Rosalena is a Los Angeles-based Indigenous artist who combines ancient techniques with modern machinery and digital weaving. Her piece in Terraforms is called Exit Point. The piece was created using an AI model that was built using existing images of Earth and outer space. Yoshitake explained that the title for the Terraforms gallery was derived from Exit Point because it centers around the idea of how humans have shaped the earth to suit their needs.
“In reality, we should be respecting the natural environment and the different species that inhabit it,” Yoshitake said.
Following that, Sandy Rodriguez is a Chicana artist based in Los Angeles. She is known for employing Indigenous techniques in her pieces and her art often speaks to climate-related, global and social crises. She highlights ongoing colonial abuse and racial violence, particularly the unregulated use of tear gas by police in 2020. Her work also highlights the violence used by humans in the process of terraforming the Earth.
Finally, Bently Spang is a Montana-based artist and a member of the Tsitsistas/Suhtai Nation, or the Northern Cheyenne Nation. He is known for creating mixed-media sculptures, installations, photographic projects, performances and writings that address issues of Northern Cheyenne identity and challenge persistent false narratives concerning the American West.
Yoshitake is currently working on an exhibition for the Hammer Museum’s Pacific Standard Time called Breath(e): Towards Climate and Social Justice, which was the inspiration for Terraforms.
“The show confronts the social injustice aspect of climate change,” Yoshitake said.
Yoshitake hopes that Terraforms not only raises awareness about environmental and social injustice, but urges people to be more cautious about how they approach the environment and the beings inhabiting it.
