Huma Bhahba, Four Nights of a Dreamer (detail), 2018. Cork, Styrofoam, acrylic, oil stick, and lacquered wood pedestal, 74 1/2 × 36 × 36 inches (189.2 × 91.4 × 91.4 cm). Courtesy of the artist; David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles; and Salon 94, New York. Photo by Jeff McLane. © Huma Bhabha
Huma Bhabha, Unnatural Histories, 2012. Wood, wire, clay, wire mesh, Styrofoam, acrylic paint, oil stick, burlap, metal, lucite, feathers, paper, laces, rubber, plastic, and horn, 86 × 80 × 198 inches (218.4 × 203.2 × 502.9 cm). Courtesy the artist and Salon 94, New York. © Huma Bhabha
Huma Bhabha, Unnatural Histories, 2012. Wood, wire, clay, wire mesh, Styrofoam, acrylic paint, oil stick, burlap, metal, lucite, feathers, paper, laces, rubber, plastic, and horn, 86 × 80 × 198 inches (218.4 × 203.2 × 502.9 cm). Courtesy the artist and Salon 94, New York. © Huma Bhabha
(Boston, MA—December 3, 2018) The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents Huma Bhabha: They Live, the largest survey of the artist’s work to date. Spanning over two decades of Bhabha’s work, this major exhibition features sculpture, drawing, and photography, and considers the artist’s engagement with the human figure. Best known for her sculptures, Bhabha uses a wide variety of materials ranging from clay, Styrofoam, bronze, bricks, wood, construction materials, and other found material, to make compelling works that engage the arts and histories of diverse cultures. Tending towards the grotesque, Bhabha’s sculptures feature hybrid bodies or figures that appear human, animal, or alien, and evoke life in a post-apocalyptic or ruined landscape. Her work transcends a singular time and place, instead creating an exploration of what the artist describes as the “eternal concerns” found across all cultures and temporalities: war, colonialism, displacement, and memories of home. On view March 23 through May 27, 2019, Huma Bhabha: They Live is organized by Eva Respini, Barbara Lee Chief Curator.
“Huma Bhabha’s quiet authority, persevering vision, and commanding work distinguish her as an exceptional artist with a unique and haunting artistic voice. This overdue exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to experience and understand the sweep and power of Huma Bhabha,” said Jill Medvedow, the ICA’s Ellen Matilda Poss Director.
While Bhabha works primarily in sculpture, she also makes drawings, photographs, and prints. Her drawings in pastel and ink incorporate a skillful blend of figuration and abstraction. In many of these works, she has composed an image, whether a face or body part, and persistently traced and retraced the lines within the composition, which result in haunting, blurred effects. Bhabha’s reworked photographs, many taken by the artist in her native Karachi, are layered with her own markmaking, referencing the documentary photography tradition with a personal and fantastical dimension.
“The artist’s hand and a certain primacy of her interactions with materials are central to Bhabha’s practice. She deploys a distinctive mixture of additive and reductive methods to create her sculptures, with intuition driving her process, resulting in works that appear unfinished,” said Respini. “With their raw beauty, haunting presence, and narrative associations, Bhabha’s works adamantly broadcast the mutable, volatile, and expressive capacities of the figure.”
Huma Bhabha: They Live presents nearly 50 of the artist’s most significant artworks, including several of her newest works, such as the large scale bronze Benaam, recently featured on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The exhibition’s organization is not chronological, but rather influenced by the three foundational figural modes seen throughout the history of sculpture: standing, sitting, or reclining, in which Bhabha often positions her figures, or characters, as she calls them. The first room, for instance, exhibits a range of media and strategies Bhabha has employed over the years, from her early wall-mounted masks to sculptural figures composed of both found and traditional materials, introducing viewers to the breadth of her practice. Each of the subsequent galleries demonstrates how she engages the figure, nodding to art historical traditions—ancient Egyptian figures to Greek kouros—along with pop cultural sensibilities.
Bhabha’s work is a synthesis of her varied interests in art, history, film, television, and current events. Representing a refreshing and novel take on the figure, her characters embody hybridity: they are often intersex, multiethnic, and sometimes embody both animal and human characteristics. They are also hybrid in their making, composed of myriad combinations from organic to manufactured materials.
Huma Bhabha: They Live is accompanied by a lushly illustrated scholarly publication, co-published with Yale University Press, featuring essays that investigate Bhabha’s prolific and multidisciplinary output as well as her historical and cultural reference points. The volume is edited by Eva Respini, with contributions by Carter E. Foster, Ed Halter, Jessica Hong, Shanay Jhaveri, Respini, and a conversation between Huma Bhabha and artist Sterling Ruby.
Friday, Mar 22, 9:30–11:00 AM
Media are invited to attend a tour of the exhibition led by Respini. RSVP to Margaux Leonard, mleonard@icaboston.org
Thursday, May 2, 7 PM
Huma Bhabha’s monumental sculptures at the ICA reflect the diversity of influences in her art, including horror films, science-fiction, and modernist sculpture. This rich and complex visual vocabulary enables her to create timely and stirring works. She states, “I make what I want to make while feeling a responsibility to bear witness to what is happening in the world.” Hear more about what drives Bhabha’s artistic practice in this engaging conversation between the artist and Eva Respini, the ICA’s Barbara Lee Chief Curator.
Huma Bhabha (b. 1962, Karachi, Pakistan) came to the United States in 1981 to attend University. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and earned an MFA from Columbia University in 1987. She lives and works in Poughkeepsie, New York. She has exhibited widely nationally and internationally, including solo exhibitions at The Contemporary Austin (2018); the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2018); the David Roberts Art Foundation, London, United Kingdom (2017); Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy (2012); MoMA PS1 (2012); and the Aspen Art Museum in Aspen (2011). Her work has been included in various group exhibitions such as All the World’s Futures, Venice Biennale (2015) and exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland; WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom; Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam; and the New Museum, New York. Her works are included in prominent museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; New York Public Library; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas; Saatchi Gallery, London; David Roberts Art Foundation, London; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Since its founding in 1936, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston has shared the pleasures of reflection, inspiration, imagination, and provocation that contemporary art offers with audiences in Boston and beyond. Its innovative exhibitions, performances, and educational programs provide access to contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas. Spanning two locations across Boston Harbor, the ICA offers year-round programming at its iconic building in Boston’s Seaport and seasonal programming (May-September) at the Watershed, part of a functioning East Boston shipyard.
The ICA is located at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA, 02210. The Watershed is located at 256 Marginal Street, East Boston, MA 02128. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our website at icaboston.org. Follow the ICA at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Major support for Huma Bhabha: They Live is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Huma Bhabha: They Live is generously sponsored by Max Mara.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Additional support is generously provided by Karen and Brian Conway, Steve Corkin and Dan Maddalena, Fotene Demoulas and Tom Coté, Cynthia and John Reed, and Charlotte and Herbert S. Wagner III.
Support for the Huma Bhabha: They Live publication provided by Salon 94.
(Boston, MA—Nov. 27, 2018) Jill Medvedow, Ellen Matilda Poss Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA), announced today the appointment of Tsugumi Maki to serve as the museum’s Chief Operating Officer. Maki comes to the ICA from the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, where she served as Associate Director of Operations and Collections Management since March 2015. In her new role at the ICA, Maki will strengthen the institutional infrastructure of the museum—staff, facility, business development and data systems—to achieve goals, leverage opportunities, and prepare for the decade ahead. She starts at the ICA on Jan. 7, 2019.
“Tsugumi’s expertise in strategic museum management along with her background in project management and collaboration make her ideally suited for the range of responsibilities she will take on as our new Chief Operating Officer. We are thrilled to be welcoming her to the ICA,” said Medvedow.
At the Davis Museum, Maki supported all collections and operational activities of the museum, including driving long-term planning, managing large-scale projects, and overseeing daily operations. As Associate Director of Operations and Collections Management, she played an important role in unveiling a major reinstallation of the Davis Museum’s permanent collections galleries in 2016. Prior to her time at the Davis, Maki served in many positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) during her nearly 18-year tenure. As Head of Gallery Planning and Installations, Maki was instrumental in the organization of the Art of the Americas Wing and the new contemporary galleries. Maki earned her master’s degree at Tufts University and a bachelor’s degree at Ithaca College.
Since its founding in 1936, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston has shared the pleasures of reflection, inspiration, imagination, and provocation that contemporary art offers with audiences in Boston and beyond. Its innovative exhibitions, performances, and educational programs provide access to contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas. Spanning two locations across Boston Harbor, the ICA offers year-round programming at its iconic building in Boston’s Seaport and seasonal programming (May-September) at the Watershed, part of a functioning East Boston shipyard.
The ICA is located at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA, 02210. The Watershed is located at 256 Marginal Street, East Boston, MA 02128. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our website at icaboston.org. Follow the ICA at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
John Akomfrah, Purple, 2017. Six-channel HD color video installation with 15.1 surround sound; 62 minutes. Courtesy Lisson Gallery. © Smoking Dogs Films
(Boston, MA—November 9, 2018) The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) will open the next season of the Watershed, its new project space in East Boston, with the U.S. premiere of Purple, an immersive six-channel video installation by acclaimed artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah, announced Jill Medvedow, the ICA’s Ellen Matilda Poss Director.
“What astounds me about the art of John Akomfrah is that the beauty, power, and grace of his work conveys a sense of the sublime and the possible, despite its depiction of the powerful impacts of climate change, rising sea levels, and the increase of severe weather. Purple embodies the belief that inward reflection must be paired with active engagement.” said Medvedow. “The ICA is honored to present this important and timely work at the Watershed.”
The artist’s most ambitious project to date, Purple combines archival footage with newly shot film to address themes related to the implications of climate change across the planet and its effects on human communities, biodiversity, and the wilderness. Sited in the Watershed’s industrial building, the themes of Purple resonate deeply with the Watershed’s harbor location and its proximity to the current and historical maritime industries of the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina. On view May 26 through September 2, 2019*, John Akomfrah: Purple is organized by Eva Respini, Barbara Lee Chief Curator, with Cara Kuball, Curatorial Project Manager.
“Purple is a catalyst for conversation and action. Through the poetic interweaving of archival images and new footage accompanied by a hypnotic soundscape, the film confronts the issue of climate change from a philosophical perspective, questioning what is morally and ethically at stake if human beings continue to exploit the planet,” said Respini. “The Watershed’s coastal and industrial location provides a powerful backdrop for visitors to explore these subjects.”
Akomfrah draws from hundreds of hours of archival footage, combining it with newly shot film and a spellbinding sound score to produce the video installation. Symphonic in scale and divided into five interwoven movements, the film features various disappearing ecological landscapes: from the hinterlands of Alaska and the desolate environments of Greenland, to the Tahitian Peninsula and the volcanic Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific. Purple conveys the complex and fragile interrelation of human and non-human life with a sense of poetic gravity that registers the vulnerability of living in precarious environments.
Purple has been commissioned by the Barbican, London and co-commissioned by Bildmuseet Umeå, Sweden, TBA21-Academy, The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon and Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow.
Born in 1957, Accra, Ghana, John Akomfrah lives and works in London. A founding member of the influential Black Audio Film Collective (1982–1998) and its offshoot, the film and television production company Smoking Dogs Films (1998–present), his work has been shown in museums and exhibitions around the world including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The New Museum, New York; Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Serpentine Gallery, London; Tate Britain, London; Southbank Centre, London; Bildmuseet Umeå, Sweden; and the 56th Venice Biennale.
On July 4, 2018 the ICA opened to the public its new ICA Watershed expanding artistic and educational programming on both sides of Boston Harbor—the Seaport and East Boston. The Watershed builds upon the extraordinary momentum achieved by the museum since opening its visionary waterfront building, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in 2006. The ICA has been a catalyst in expanding audiences for contemporary art through groundbreaking exhibitions and performances, and innovative programs—increasing its attendance tenfold and welcoming over 2.5 million visitors to the museum since 2006. A museum at the intersection of contemporary art and civic life, the ICA has advanced a bold vision for amplifying the artist’s voice and augmenting art’s role as educator, incubator, and convener for social engagement. Admission to the Watershed—central to the museum’s vision for art and civic life—is free for all.
An influential forum for multi-disciplinary arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston has been at the leading edge of art in Boston for 80 years. Like its iconic building on Boston’s waterfront, the ICA offers new ways of engaging with the world around us. Its exhibitions and programs provide access to contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas. The ICA, located at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, is open Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 AM–5 PM; Thursday and Friday, 10 AM–9 PM (1st Friday of every month, 10 AM–5 PM); and Saturday and Sunday, 10 AM–5 PM. Admission is $15 adults, $13 seniors and $10 students, and free for members and children 17 and under. Free admission for families at ICA Play Dates (2 adults + children 12 and under) on last Saturday of the month. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our website at www.icaboston.org. Follow the ICA at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
*Exhibition dates subject to change.
John Akomfrah: Purple has been commissioned by the Barbican, London and co-commissioned by Bildmuseet Umeå, Sweden, TBA21-Academy, The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon and Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow.
Free admission to the ICA Watershed is made possible by the generosity of Alan and Vivien Hassenfeld and the Hassenfeld Family Foundation.
The Boston Foundation welcomes you to the ICA Watershed.
The ICA Watershed is supported by Fund for the Arts, a public art program of the New England Foundation for the Arts.
