Lectures and Talks

In a career spanning over four decades, photographer Flor Garduño (Mexican, b. 1957) has continuously explored, through her poetic pictures, connections to the natural world, history, and Indigenous beliefs that are a part of the people and places she photographs in Mexico, Central and South America.

Garduño studied visual arts at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City where she was particularly inspired by her teacher Kati Horna. She went on to work under renowned photographers such as Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Mariana Yampolsky, as she continued to develop her own style. Today, Flor Garduño is a leading photographer of her generation in Mexico.

Please join us for a conversation with the artist to learn more about her work, process, and inspiration. This conversation will be facilitated by a Spanish interpreter.

Filmmaker, photographer, and poet, Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, b. 1984) uses moving images, photography, sound, and language to explore forms of storytelling. Ideas of Indigenous homeland and landscape and language as containers of culture are at the center of his work.

Sky Hopinka’s photographs and films are widely collected and exhibited, his collection of writings, essays, and calligrams entitled Around the Edge of the Encircling Lake was published in 2018, and he was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.

During this 90-minute event, the artist will discuss his work, process, and inspiration, which will include screening of examples of his film and video work

British sculptor Laura Ellen Bacon creates large-scale works using woven willow in landscape, interior, and gallery settings, with the goal that her work might bring intrigue into both natural and built environments. Through these monumental structures, Bacon reminds us of our connection to the natural world. Bacon site-specific works include installations for Saatchi Gallery, Chatsworth, New Art Centre, Somerset House, Sudeley Castle and Blackwell – The Arts and Crafts House in Cumbria.

Join Jill D’Alessandro, Director and Curator of the Avenir Institute of Textile Arts and Fashion, in conversation with the artist about her practice and newly created work. Rejuvenation, commissioned by the Denver Art Museum, is Bacon's first installation outside of Europe and will be on view through October 2024 in the atrium of the Hamilton Building.

Inspired by comic book imagery and iconography from South Asia, Chitra Ganesh creates wondrous animations, bold and colorful paintings, and mixed media works that center women and queer perspectives. Rejecting traditional gender roles, Ganesh depicts female archetypes such as witches and goddesses that reimagine representations of femininity, sexuality, and power. Ganesh references ancient mythology, queer politics, old Bollywood poster and songs, and the erasure of South Asian history in her works.

This lecture is presented by the department of Modern and Contemporary Art.