The first UC San Diego Visual Arts faculty show organized since 2015, ARE WE NOT DRAWN ONWARD TO NEW ERA presents work by new faculty who have joined the department over the past eight years. The exhibition marks the grand reopening of the Mandeville Art Gallery after a period of closure for extensive renovation.

The exhibition highlights recent projects by faculty artists within the context of the defining forces of our moment, such as continued struggles for equity and social justice, accelerating climate change, threats to democracy, and rapid technological developments. The featured photographs, moving images, paintings, sculptures, and performances address both the possibilities and the complexities of this new era, and offer a distinct sense of hope for the future. The title ARE WE NOT DRAWN ONWARD TO NEW ERA is a reference to a poster by Las Hermanas Iglesias, a collaborative project by Assistant Professor Janelle Iglesias and her sister Lisa Iglesias, copies of which are free for visitors to take away during the run of the show. As the palindrome suggests, forward progression is never linear. The reopening of the Mandeville Art Gallery coincides with Graduate Open Studios at UC San Diego!

Participating Artists:
Memo Akten, Danielle Dean, dean erdmann, Malik Gaines, Mariah Garnett, Las Hermanas Iglesias (Janelle and Lisa Iglesias), Lorena Mostajo, My Barbarian, Alexandro Segade, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Pinar Yoldas

Image: Memo Akten, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, 2021 [Video still, Courtesy the artist]