MA KI NG MI GRATI ON VISIBLE: TRACES, TRACKS & PATHWAYSOctober 5 through December 14, 2018

Opening Hosted at MECA’s ICA on Friday, October 5, 2018

For Immediate ReleaseThe Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art Announces Statewide Collaboration Exhibition Partners with over 70 Community and Institutional Entities Statewide on Themes of Migration, Immigration, and Border Crossing

Portland, Maine — Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks & Pathways brings together a dynamic group of contemporary artists whose work engages the theme of migration. Organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, this exhibition will be accompanied by a wide range of events about migration, immigration, and border crossing hosted by the ICA and collaborating partner organizations throughout the state. Events include companion exhibitions, lectures, films, performances, poetry readings, and community conversations. MECA will host a one-day public symposium for artist and collaborating partners on Friday, November 2, 2018. A detailed schedule and more information on each of the affiliated events will be available in September at www.meca.edu/traces.

Erin Hutton, Director of Exhibitions & Special Projectsica@meca.edu | 207.699.5025

Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Artmeca.edu/traces

Daniel Quintanilla + UnitedYES + Yarn Corporation, | AT THE PERIPHERY | , project still, 2018

“Artists have always played a central and critical role in helping us to understand the emotions— pride, longing, melancholy, displacement, fear— that are so much a part of the immigration experience,” said MECA President Laura Freid. “In these times of war and distress, when so many are faced with displacement, exile, and the significant existential pressures of immigration, it is critical for all of us to try to understand and reach out to each other. I am hopeful that this ICA exhibition will help us to start healthy, open, and engaged dialogues in our community.”

The exhibition is organized by Director of Exhibitions and Special Projects, Erin Hutton and co-curated by Julie Poitras Santos and Catherine Besteman. Poitras Santos is an artist, writer and Assistant Professor in

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the MFA program at MECA. The relationship between site, story and mobility fuels a wide range of Poitras Santos’ research and production, often as a means to create community. Besteman is Professor of Anthropology at Colby College who has conducted extensive fieldwork in South Africa, Somalia, and the United States. Besteman recently published a book that examines the experiences of Maine’s largest refugee population.

In light of vigorous local and national dialogues about immigration, Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks & Pathways seeks to make connections among local communities and to illuminate the experiences and materialities of displacement, exile, and mobility. Through its focus on pathways linking memory, movement, the loss of home, and the invention of a new one, the exhibition opens an inclusive critique of stereotypes about migrants and migration. The works enable viewers and participants to interrogate how structural inequalities and inequities influence our daily interactions and experiences of mobility.

Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks & Pathways will be on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art from October 5 through December 14, 2018. The opening will take place on Friday, October 5, 2018, and a one-day symposium will be held on Friday, November 2, 2018. A number of additional programs including film screenings, community dialogues, artist talks, and exhibitions will take place at different venues throughout Maine while the exhibition is on view.

Participating artists include: Ahmed Alsoudani ‘05, Caroline Bergvall, Edwige Charlot ‘10, Jason De Leon + Michael Wells + Lucy Cahill, Eric Gottesman, Mohamad Hafez, Romuald Hazoumè, Ranu Mukherjee, Daniel Quintanilla + United YES + Yarn Corporation, María Patricia Tinajero and Yu-Wen Wu.

SUPPORT

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Making Migrations Visible is also funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. This exhibit is made possible in part thanks to the support of private donors, Colby College, and the Lunder Foundation.

For more information about venues, topics, events, and opportunities to contribute, please visit meca.edu/traces

For more information or to schedule an interview with exhibition co-curators Julie Poitras Santos or Catherine Besteman, please contact Erin Hutton: ehutton@meca.edu | 207.699.5025

A B OUT THE ICA AT MECA

The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art (ICA), Portland, Maine, features innovative exhibitions and public programs that showcase new perspectives and trends in contemporary art. Comprised of the Lunder Gallery, the Evans Hunt Gallery and the William Sloane Jelin Gallery, the ICA is located on the first floor of the Porteous Building. The ICA presents contemporary work by local, national and international artists. A lively schedule of programming includes public lectures, workshops, performances, pop-up shows, events and other interventions. The ICA is a unique resource for the MECA community, offering insight into the practices of the professional field and first-hand experiences with both renowned visiting artists from afield and nearby.

Guest curators at the ICA ensure a diverse annual roster of shows, events, interventions, discussion groups, and more. Working in collaboration with the ICA Director, guest curators provide a fresh and deeply plugged-in perspective and vision. They develop and support the production of each exhibition, and provide new insight on the dynamic field of contemporary art.

Erin Hutton, Director of Exhibitions & Special Projectsica@meca.edu | 207.699.5025

Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Artmeca.edu/traces

EXHIBITION AFFILIATES

ACLU-MAINEAuburn Public LibraryBates College Department of AnthropologyBates College Museum of ArtThe BCB Center for Compassion, University of Southern MaineBeth Israel CongregationBondekoBowdoin College Capital Area New Mainers ProjectCatholic CharitiesCenter for the Arts and Humanities, Colby CollegeCenter for Global Humanities, University of New England Center for Maine Contemporary ArtCenter for Small Town Jewish LifeChinese and American Friendship AssociationCivil Rights Team ProjectColby College Creative Writing Speaker SeriesColby College Museum of ArtCommon Street ArtsCony High SchoolCultivating CommunityEmily Liebling, Reiche SchoolEmpower the Immigrant WomanEngineFrontier Café & TheaterGreater Portland Immigrant Welcome CenterGulf of Maine BooksHarlow GalleryHellenic Society of MaineThe Holocaust and Human Rights Center of MaineI’m Your NeighborImmigrant Legal Advocacy ProjectIn Her PresenceInstitute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at Maine College of Art (MECA)Lewiston Public LibraryMaine College of Art/AAW

Maine Historical SocietyMaine Humanities CouncilMaine Immigrants’ Rights CoalitionMaine Jewish MuseumMaine Multicultural CenterMaine State MuseumMaine Women Writers CollectionMano en ManoMayo Street ArtsMid Maine Global ForumMonson ArtsMuseum L/ANew England Arab American OrganizationOak Institute for Human Rights, Colby CollegeOcean House GalleryPalaver StringsPeregrine PressPhotography and Migration Project Pickwick Press: Printers Without MarginsPortland Museum of ArtPortland Poet LaureatePortland Public LibraryPortland Public SchoolsPortland Stage TheaterPower in Community Alliance Print BookstoreRabkin FoundationRailroad Square CinemaReed Gallery, University of Maine, Presque IsleSALT Institute of Documentary Studies @ MECASister MakingsSMCC Student GalleriesSpace GallerySpeedwell StudiosStonecoast Creative Writing Program, University of Southern Maine TEMPOart University of Maine, OronoUniversity of Southern MaineWorld Affairs Council of MaineWorld to Table

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Erin Hutton, Director of Exhibitions & Special Projectsica@meca.edu | 207.699.5025

Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Artmeca.edu/traces

SELECTED IMAGES

To request high-resolution images and image usage rights, please email ica@meca.edu.

Mohamad Hafez, Desperate Cargo, 2016, plaster, paint, float, found objects, MP3 media player, rusted metal, lighting, 144” x 48” x 40”

Eric Gottesman, Jordan Is Not A Country/Desert Fence, 2006, 30” x40,” pigment print

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Erin Hutton, Director of Exhibitions & Special Projectsica@meca.edu | 207.699.5025

Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Artmeca.edu/traces

SELECTED IMAGES

To request high-resolution images and image usage rights, please email ica@meca.edu.

Caroline Bergvall, Drift, screenshot of Seafarer electronic work. Photo: Thomas Köppel, 2017

Michael Wells, Migrant artifacts. Sonora Desert, Arizona, photograph, 2010-2013

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Erin Hutton, Director of Exhibitions & Special Projectsica@meca.edu | 207.699.5025

Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Artmeca.edu/traces

SELECTED IMAGES

To request high-resolution images and image usage rights, please email ica@meca.edu.

Ranu Mukherjee, begin, 2017, wool, 48” x 72”; commissioned by the FOR-SITE Foundation; photo: Robert Divers Herrick

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Erin Hutton, Director of Exhibitions & Special Projectsica@meca.edu | 207.699.5025

Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Artmeca.edu/traces