Hampshire College

Call for Proposals
The Cultural Center accepts Kahlo Gallery exhibit proposals on a rolling basis from students, staff, faculty, and community members for the academic calendar year.

Send via email to culturalcenter@hampshire.edu the following information:
- Your name.
- Your phone and email address.
- Description of the exhibit idea, including media, artist(s) and proposed dates.
- Explanation of how your exhibit relates to the mission of the Kahlo Gallery.

Mission
The Kahlo Gallery is located on the second floor of the Lebrón-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center, and it aims to be a venue showcasing under-represented artists and work dealing with issues of under-representation. We hope to increase the visibility of artists of color and international artists on campus and in the community. The Kahlo Gallery aims to educate the community about under-representation in the arts by organizing talks, lectures, screenings, and other events. In addition, the gallery supports work from artists who seriously and sensitively confront issues that are pertinent to the mission of the Cultural Center, such as increasing awareness on issues of race, ethnicity, oppression, and under-representation.

The Kahlo Gallery: Fall 2007-Spring 2008
The SOURCE Mural had its grand opening on September 18th, and drew a large audience from across campus. Gianna Rodriguez organized the mural for her Division III and led a discussion about the process. "After participating in SOURCE for the past few years, I have noticed a divide between the different groups. My objective in starting this project was to bring members from each group together to work on a project where each individual had an equal part in the design, composition, and theme of the mural. The goal of this project was not to merely decorate the Cultural Center with art, but to foster a stronger sense of community and collective responsibility between those who participated." The mural is an ongoing project and is not complete. Anyone who would like to contribute or facilitate its continuance should contact the Cultural Center.

From February to May, the Kahlo Gallery exhibited the paintings of student Noam Bahat in an exhibit titled "Shahid Shahiden Shuhada."  Says Bahat: "More than 900 Palestinian children were killed since September 29, 2000. To Palestinians, these children are the Shuhada, but to the Israeli police the word Shahid is a synonym to a terrorist. Who are these children? In what way should they be remembered? More than 900 Palestinian children were killed since September 29, 2000. While media focuses on the rest of martyrs, these children have mostly been represented as a number, a solid group of innocence. But what does it have to do with these children? More than 900 Palestinian children were killed since September 29, 2000. I just wanted to hear it."

Co-exhibiting with Noam Bahat was student Dina Jacir, who showed her photographs of the West Bank, which were also exhibited in a fundraiser for the organization Save Gaza.

The year ended with a multi-media exhibit of works from students of the SOURCE community. The following students displayed their work:  Anthony Thomas, Cihan Tekay, Miatta Kawinzi, Romina Ruiz, and Sasha Goldberg.

The Kahlo Gallery: Fall 2006-Spring 2007
The highlight of the year was the collaborative creation of the SOURCE Mural. This project was led by Division III student Gianna Rodriguez in collaboration with students of the SOURCE community and allies. This colorful mural occupies a full wall of the Cultural Center's living room and portrays the history of the Cultural Center and SOURCE, featuring images of individuals for whom the center is named. Also, the mural portrays images of different SOURCE actions that represent the struggles students of color and international students have endured in order to claim safe spaces as their own. The mural also captures small portraits of past members of SOURCE as well as the staff of the center. Overall, the mural is meant to represent the history of the Cultural Center and SOURCE. (Taken from the artist's statement.)

The Kahlo Gallery: Fall 2005-Spring 2006
Throughout the 2005-2006 academic year, the gallery hosted five exhibits, of which all works on display were created by students of Hampshire College. All the exhibits received campus-wide publicity.

“Reflections: an exhibition of photographs for Fuyang AIDS Orphan Salvation Association” by Annie Ren was featured at the grand opening reception of the Kahlo Gallery on November 2nd, 2005, along with the screening of the short film "Ignorance" by Thanu Yakupitiyage. Film student Thanu Yakupitiyage described her work as “a glimpse into the abstract understandings of oneself in relation to culture, place, and sense of self. Inspired by a novel by Milan Kundera, the film embodies the internal struggle, and longing that results from being away from one’s home and country.” She also said she was extremely pleased and touched by the strong response to her film during the discussion that followed the screening, and it made her realize that even though for her the film was a personal journey, viewers can relate their own experiences very intimately to it. Annie Ren’s exhibition of photographs, taken during her experience with Fuyang AIDS Orphan Salvation Association in China in the summer of 2005, was up until November 30, 2005,  and donations were accepted for the organization. Annie Ren also donated the proceeds from the sale of photographs.

“Black History Month Exhibit” opened on February 21, 2006, featuring works of photography by Zardon Richardson and paintings, drawings, and mixed media by Zoe J. Beatty. The exhibit, open through March 10, 2006, was part of the Cultural Center’s Black History Month Calendar. Prior to the exhibit, student artists were asked how their work fits into the context of Black History Month. Student artist Zoe J. Beatty stated: “As an African-American student in college, I like to think that my art and other achievements may be living examples of what African-Americans have been able to do and the many things that we continue to achieve.” Zardon Richardson wrote: “…my art reflects the experience of the black American… and it displays that it is okay for a black person to think creatively.”

“Images of Exile” exhibit opened with student readings, film screenings, and performance art by members of Karen Koehler and Rachel Rubinstein’s HACU-148 “Art and Exile” class on April 18, 2006 and closed April 20th, 2006. This was the gallery’s first event supporting work from students of varying ethnic backgrounds that were not necessarily under-represented, yet their work confronted issues that are pertinent to the Cultural Center’s mission towards increasing awareness on issues of race, ethnicity, oppression, and under-representation. The students in class were asked to produce or reproduce works that reflect issues of exile and displacement. The works in the exhibit represented a variety of media including collage, photography, sculpture, painting, ready-made, and mixed. Marie-Laure Dubois wrote about her collage on Josephine Baker: “…she was a victim of prejudice in America at the time; she was compelled to practice her craft in a seemingly less segregated Europe…but soon she would discover that she was viewed [in Europe] as a highly fetishized and exotic object whose goal was to evoke a savage beauty that was very much en vogue…” Wafa Amayreh, senior student at Mount Holyoke College, reproduced photographs from “Jours Intranquilles” by Bruno Boudjelal: “Half French, half Algerian and raised in France, Boudjelal took these photographs of and with family members he had never met of a place he can only half remember and imagine from other people’s stories and rememberings… his photographs are an attempt to capture a time and place that will never exist.” Sophat Sam exhibited “A Tribute…” he created by integrating twenty photographs into one panoramic view: “As a Cambodian citizen who has never stepped foot on its soil, I only know of this imagined 'homeland' through stories told to me by my parents. I was born and raised in the barren landscapes of Thailand’s refugee camps, a homeland that now barely lives in the figments of my memories. Represented in this image is my home for the past ten years, the city of Lowell, where I find remnants of the past living in the form of Cambodian shops lined along this one street; billboards and store signs that are decorated with Khmer scripture, a language I’ve since lost; and most importantly a generation of Cambodian youths who grew up unsure of their identity and their home.”

“Post-Katrina New Orleans” opened on April 23, 2006 and ran until April 26th, 2006. The exhibit was organized and curated in collaboration with the members of Hampshire Habitat Krithi Rao, Alfred Planco, and Zac Philips and featured works of photography from students Jezra Beaulieu, Alfred Planco, Rebecca Crenshaw, Zac Phillips, and Neta Ambar. Kate Sarrantonio’s woodblock print titled “Seven Months” was also exhibited. Sarrantonio wrote about her piece: “The image came together out of a series of day/nightmares that followed the week I spent with Hampshire College students in the 9th ward in New Orleans, L.A… It came out of anger at the racism involved in the displacement and the government’s refusal to continue funding body searches and the non-consensual bulldozing of homes.” A discussion of related issues was facilitated by the organizers at the opening of the exhibit and further plans made in efforts to help rebuild the post-Katrina New Orleans.

“West to East: Fragments from Coast to Coast” by Eve-Lauryn Little Shell LaFountain opened on April 28, 2006,  featuring a screening of her film and an exhibition of her installation works. Ms. LaFountain is a film and photography student who concentrates in Native American and Jewish cultural comparisons. She has received several awards for her photography at Santa Fe’s Indian Market, including first and second place in black and white photography and best of division for 2005. Her first film premiered at ImagineNative Film and Media Arts Festival in Toronto, Ontario. This is not Ms. LaFountain’s first exhibition: she participated in many group shows including Gallery TK, Flywheel Arts Collective, PhotoArts Santa Fe, and Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts. Ms. LaFountain also states that her mixed heritage has a great influence on her artistic and academic undertakings. “West to East: Fragments from Coast to Coast” ran until May 14, 2006.