Revive | احیا asked seven women connected to Middle Eastern culture to select a ceramic object in the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery collection and write a description. These essays were then given to seven Middle Eastern artists who created new works of art, based solely on the essay given to them, never seeing the object itself. This collaboration highlights how explicative language can evoke meaningful expression to render a more legitimate historical perspective and chart a course for a more inclusive future.

Join us at Urban Glass for the solo exhibition of Kris Rumman with contributed works by Jessi Li and Lauren Fueyo and in performance collaboration with JungWoong Kim. Opening reception January 19th from 6-8 PM.

For more information, click here.

The notions of balance, interconnectedness and codependency within living systems permeates Kris Rumman’s multimedia artistic practice. Working from a background in glass-making techniques, Rumman often experiments with a myriad of materials, traditional and non-traditional ones, juxtaposing them with glass elements in her objects, ambiances and performances. The artist’s research into the physical and metaphorical properties of materials is closely linked to her immersion in the sociological, psychological and political issues of our times. At times, in subtle ways, Rumman’s practice touches upon her own Palestinian family’s history of migration to the US within a larger context of the 20th century and contemporary displacements and migrations. Here, it is resonant of Edward Said’s theories of Orientalism from his seminal 1978 book on the ways how power relations between the East and West are being constructed in modern times, as well as the modes of shaping perceptions of Arab cultures and societies used by the West.