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Undergraduate Research at UMass Dartmouth
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2016 elections. The Frederick Douglass Unity House
at UMass Dartmouth was gracious enough to host
my exhibition (The Art of Resistance). The goals and
values of the Unity House in creating discussion,
providing support, and educating the community
aligned perfectly with my goals for this exhibition.
My show facilitated a dialogue at a time when
political issues affected our campus community and
other surrounding communities we all belong to. It
also gave students a platform to discuss politics in
unique and creative ways. In my call to artists, I tried
to keep submission guidelines as open as possible.
I hoped that the exhibit would inspire and empower
others to act, be it through art, protest, calling
representatives, or other avenues. The exhibition
took place in mid-April and featured the works of
students Ashley Lima, Joel Rivera, Grace Augello,
Shannon Morrell, and Chloe Bartlett, and alumnus
Johnus Derby. It included photographs, paintings,
digital works, and protest signs. The diversity of
the works on display was a small glimpse into the
diversity of works by artists around the country.
capacity as the president of the Art History Club, I
was responsible for organizing this year’s symposium,
which required coming up with a theme.
The research grant from the OUR also allowed me to
advance my career goals by enabling my extra-curricular
activities in the Department of Art History
and I am grateful for that. The funding facilitated a
professional exhibition with ample publicity. It also
provided support for my research at key libraries in
the greater Boston area. I intend to attend graduate
school in curatorial and museum studies. Eventually,
I’d like to pursue a career in curation, featuring the
works of artists who focus on challenging social and
political issues.
Additionally, I wrote a paper analyzing works from
all election cycles from 2016 back to Nixon. The
paper revealed trends not only in art, but also in
politics; through multiple case studies I discussed
the ways in which artists and creative agents have
approached political issues and described how they
have chosen to agree or disagree. The research conducted
for this paper allowed me to craft a theme
for the 2017 UMass Dartmouth Art History Annual
Undergraduate Symposium: Art and Activism. In my