Painting of woman lying down by Pooja Campbell

Transit
American University Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition 

Artists:

  • Phaedra Askarinam
  • Pooja Campbell
  • Patricia Edwine Poku
  • Connor Gagne
  • Andrés Izquierdo
  • Julia Cheng Zhang


Experience the thesis work of our six MFA candidates, whose practices encompass painting, photography, ceramics, installation, and performance. While each artist draws on their unique personal histories, they find common cause as a cohort in the concept of transit—a word that one dictionary defines as “an act, process, or instance of passing through or over.”

To varying degrees, their work examines the transitions—between cultures, through grief, into parenthood—that define moments of self-discovery.

Right: Pooja Campbell, Once Upon a Time, 2025. Oil on linen, 33.5 in x 26.25 in. Photo by Connor Gagne.

Portrait of a person in flowy white clothing and jewelry in front of a large, blank white wall

Alone, Together
Viewpoints from the Corcoran Legacy Collection

Curators:

  • Amy Abraham
  • Gabriella Alexander
  • Michelle Avila
  • Jessica Ban
  • Jordan Delgado
  • Diana Soleil Fogel
  • Ali Frandock
  • Chase Helein
  • Hannah Kenn
  • Terra Muhammad
  • Jessica Papay
  • Anna Beatrix Roe
  • Rachel Sheehan
  • Alaina Soto
  • Denisse Zamora


In today’s world, people often feel disconnected from themselves and each other — how can we change that? Alone, Together explores art as a form of social connection. Presenting works by Washington area artists from 1967–1998, including Rebecca Davenport’s Self-Portrait and Lani Irwin’s Queen of Hearts, the exhibition invites viewers into domestic, natural, and abstract spaces for reflection, conversation, and shared experience.

Right: Rebecca Davenport, Self-Portrait, 1973. Oil on canvas, 72 x 66 1/4 in., Gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Gift of the Women’s Committee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1974).