Zilkha Gallery showcases the work of the Class of 2023's thesis students in the Department of Art and Art History's Art Studio Program. Each student is invited to select a single work from their Senior Thesis Exhibition for this curated year-end showcase of drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and architecture.

WESeminar Senior Thesis Showcase Reception
Saturday, May 27, at 2:30 p.m. with curator remarks at 3 p.m.
With a conversation with Associate Professor of Art History Nadja Aksamija, Associate Director of Visual Arts and Adjunct Instructor in Art Benjamin Chaffee, and the student curators Bailey Chapin '24, Emma Flaherty '24, and Sabrina Tian '24.

Following the Opium Wars (1839–1860), two conflicts between China and Britain (and later France), Western powers implemented a series of treaties designed to undermine Chinese sovereignty. Later referred to as the “unequal treaties,” these “agreements” forced China to open trade and allow foreigners onto its soil, initiating an era of intensive cultural exchange. With new opportunities for commerce and education, Western merchants, missionaries, academics, and politicians flooded China’s gates. During this time, preexisting, orientalist stereotypes of China faced a reckoning. Many more foreigners were able to experience China firsthand, gaining a more nuanced understanding of Chinese culture by interacting with Chinese people. Conversely, Chinese people learned more about Western culture as they were exposed to foreigners. However, certain prejudices against a “backward” and “inferior” China persisted, posing it as a threatening nation in need of Western guidance. The insights and misunderstandings that were born in this period continue to impact scholarship and politics today.

All works included in the exhibition are from the College of East Asian Studies’ Art and Archival Collection, an educational resource collection that includes works of art in various media mostly relating to China in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The posters and booklets in this exhibit are fragments of the rich history of Indian cinema and are illustrations of its importance in popular culture. The song booklets (which first appeared in the 1920s), are particularly unique to Indian cinema and contain songs, film stills, and a synopsis of the plot. This exhibit features materials from the 1930s through the 2010s, displayed in both the Rick Nicita Gallery, and a display case in the Center for Film Studies lobby.

Individual film posters and song booklets were chosen from CFILM Assistant Professor Anuja Jain’s personal collection, others were acquired through the Albritton Center Collaborative Project Faculty Grant, and others were donated from the South Asian collection at the George Eastman Museum.

Want to know about the scholarship produced by Black students on campus over the years? Interested in learning more about artist books? Come see a collection of mini exhibits put together by the students of History 330, Introduction to Public History, this spring semester with the help of Wesleyan’s special collections and university archives. Each student was allowed to choose a topic of interest to them and to create both a physical and online exhibit to help them understand how to balance the standards of formal academic scholarship with the demands of interpreting history for a larger public audience. Each of these 8 unique cases give insight into various parts of Wesleyan history and items from the library’s unique collections.

Additionally, Special Collections and Archives will also host an Open House on Friday, May 26 and on Saturday, May 27 from 1–3 p.m. on both days in their archives and in the Davison Rare Book Room in Olin Library.