Every four years since we opened, the American University Museum presents exhibitions during the run-up to presidential elections addressing the most heavily contested issues. Our intention is to educate and encourage dialogue.

This year, necessitated by the ongoing pandemic, we will provide virtual space for these exhibitions and discussions. Art on view this fall explores themes around the global climate crisis, particularly water as a declining resource, immigration policies, and truth and illusion in public discourse.   

Edward Burtynsky: Water features Edward Burtynsky’s critically acclaimed large-scale photographs, often taken from a bird’s-eye perspective, that tell the timely story of where water comes from, how we use, distribute, and waste it.
Edward Burtynsky
 

Immigration

Two online exhibitions address issues surrounding immigration and identity from very different perspectives.

Border Wall | Allan Gerson presents powerful and poignant outsized photographs taken of the Mexican side of the border wall.
Border Wall

Mikray Pida reflects on the environmental and human impact of immigration to the Uighur territory. Drawing upon her ancestry to contemplate the loss of Uighur cultural identity, Pida’s large-scale paintings comment on climate change, overpopulation, and refugee crises that threaten human existence worldwide.
Mikray Pida

Art and Authenticity in the Age of Fake News was curated by AU Art Historian Nika Elder and executed by her students. This online exhibition presents works from the museum’s permanent collection to examine the illusion of truth evident throughout art history, drawing connections to present claims of “fake news.”
Art & Authenticity
 

Learn more about Beverly Ryan's installation Weaponized Surveillence, which explores the role of drone technology in modern warfare. 
Weaponized Surveillance

Images

From top to bottom:

Edward Burtynsky, Step-well #2, Panna Meena, Amber, Rajasthan, India, 2010. Digital chromogenic colour print on Kodak Endura Premier paper, 48 x 64 in; framed: 52 3/8 x 68 3/8 in. © Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto / Howard Greenberg & Bryce Wolkowitz, New York.

Allan Gerson, Border Wall, No.8, 3.19. The Estate of Allan Gerson.

Mikray Pida, My Space, 2016. Acrylic on canvas, 27 x 34.5 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Eglon Daley, Chinese New Year, Chinatown, 1993. Acrylic on board, 29 5/8 × 45 3/8 in. American University Museum, Gift of Nelson and Susanne Joyner, 2019.4.1.

Beverly Ryan, Weaponized Surveillance installation, 2016-2020. Mixed media installation, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.