February 16 – May 14, 2017
Ornate/Activate examines the use of decorative arts and motifs, architectural elements, scripts, traditional materials, and other forms of pattern-making by artists of South Asian origin to create meaningful and critical content. The exhibition, organized by the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) and curated by Alexander Campos, addresses themes such as inequality stemming from the global economy, loss of language and culture, gender violence, discrimination, segregation, and issues of equality and identity. The artists in Ornate/Activate recognize a need to reclaim tactile and decorative methods of making as a way to address social, political, and economic issues and also to confront the ever-growing presence of technology in everyday life.