Art and Politics

Juried by Guusje Sanders

Curatorial Statement

The Politics of Absence

Reviewing the submissions for this exhibition, I encountered many of the same emotions that have come to define the current political moment: outrage, sadness, loss, uncertainty, and exhaustion. In the submissions, artists turned to imagery of political figures to confront the administration, giving form to their anger. Others expressed a paralysis as they try to deal with the overwhelming current political chaos. The abundance of applications for this theme reinforces that we are not alone in these feelings and maybe provides some hope to all of us.

As I moved through all the submissions, I found myself increasingly drawn to a specific kind of political work that, in some ways, felt quieter but just as determined to be heard. A quiet rebellion that equally boldly wants to claim space and demands to be seen.

These works explore what it means when entire communities, histories, or experiences exist at the edges of public consciousness. Politics dominates nearly every aspect of life, filling our news feeds, conversations, and cultural production, all in a moment when truth itself can feel unstable. Facts are disputed, and reality is shaped by spectacle and the repetition of falsehoods. In this turmoil, the question of absence becomes increasingly political.

Examining the politics of invisibility, these works draw attention to what has been erased, restricted, forgotten, controlled, or rendered silent. They ask us to consider the spaces left behind when voices are excluded from dominant narratives and challenge the power structures that determine whose stories are seen, heard, and remembered, reminding us that power operates not only through presence, but through absence; not only through what is said, but through what is left unsaid.

This exhibition is an invitation to look toward those absences. To consider invisibility not as emptiness, but as evidence and to ask whose stories remain underrecognized, what is lost when they disappear from view, and what becomes possible when they are brought into focus.

About the Juror

Guusje Sanders, originally from the Netherlands and residing in the United States since 2006, joined Mingei International Museum's curatorial team as Curator in August 2023. Most recently she curated Boundless: Reflections of Southern California Landscapes in Midcentury Studio Ceramics and Restitched: Feed Sacks in Mid-Twentieth Century Quilts and co-curated Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo, presented as part of Getty's PST ART: Art and Science Collide. Prior to this position, she served as the Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego, formerly Lux Art Institute for 6 years. Approaching her curatorial practice as a platform for diverse voices, she places a strong emphasis on accessibility and curatorial and institutional accountability. Sanders holds a Master's in Exhibition and Museum Studies from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Bachelor's in Art History from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

WALL 1: Shaping “Truth” and Controlling the Narrative

History is talked about as a fixed record of the past, a singular truth. These artworks question how history is shaped, who has the power to tell it, and how “truth” has become a contested space. Dominant narratives determine which events are remembered, whose voices are amplified, and which stories are omitted altogether. False promises can become tools of oppression, while repetition and selective memory turn partial accounts into accepted truths. Acts of erasure have reinforced these narratives, but when overlooked voices emerge, histories are recontextualized, and established histories are challenged, we have the power to unravel long-held assumptions.

MyLoan Dinh

Heather Besemer-Schulz

**Heather Besemer-Schulz**
*Harm To Ongoing Matter-Cover Open*
Newspaper, plastic bags, black ink
14.75" x 10.25" x .25"
$10.00

Amy Redmond

Nikyra Capson

Stevie Rosenfeld

Stevie Rosenfeld
I/You
Video
1:05
NFS

Allison Atewart

**Allison Atewart**
*Removed Albert Sidney Johnston Monument, University of Texas*
Archival pigment print
24" x 16" x 0"
$700.00

Emily Brockebrough

Takeshi Tokitsu

**Takeshi Tokitsu**
*Atmosphere #3*
Archival pigment print of newspaper and Polaroid collage
24" x 18" x 1"
$2,000.00

Elena Masrour

Yoosef Mohamad

Wall 2: Visible Absence and Invisible of Presence

These works explore ideas of visibility. Being seen is part of belonging, which is shaped through recognition, acknowledgment, and the understanding that one's presence matters. However, visibility is not guaranteed. People, places, histories, and experiences are overlooked, ignored, displaced, or deliberately erased, even when they exist in plain sight. What remains visible is often determined by systems of power that decide what is worthy of attention and what can be forgotten. Dehumanizing practices are so thorough that we easily overlook what is right in front of us, averting our gaze until the person is gone, and all we witness are the remnants of their presence.

Shreepad Joglekar

**Shreepad Joglekar**
*New Baghdad, Iraq*
Pigmented print
10" x 40" x 0"
$0.00

Mari Claudia Garcia

**Mari Claudia Garcia**
*Meditations on Fear*
Sound installation
0" x 0" x 0"
$6,000.00

Robbie Sugg

Yoosef Mohamadi

Jjenna Hupp Andrews

**Yoosef Mohamadi**
*Golden Land*
Metal, wood, mirror, joint compound, Hewri fabric
200 cm x 80 cm x 80 cm
$0.00

Amal Azzam

Amarachi Odimba

Athenkosi Kwinana

**Athenkosi Kwinana**
*TM’24*
Colour pencil on paper
100" x 80" x 5"
$3,000.00

Nobue Takahashi

Wall 3: The Inbetween Spaces and Loss

Migration is on the thresholds between spaces: departure and arrival, belonging and exclusion, recognition and invisibility. These spaces are marked by uncertainty, where identities are systematically dehumanized, questioned, suspended, or reduced to categories and documents.

Loss permeates these experiences. There is the loss of life, home, language, community, and identity. These artists highlight these in-between spaces of loss. Exploring how people cope with loss and grief as they navigate separation, displacement, and prolonged uncertainty in these in-between spaces.

Myloan Dinh

Susanna Eisenman

Danae Nunez

Marcus DeSieno

Reineke Hollander

Loreen Matsushima

Janice Nakashimo

**Janice Nakashima**
*Far From Home*
Mixed media — wire, dirt, wood, glue
10" x 6" x 6"
NFS

Wall 4: Bodies as Sites of Control

These artists explore how the body is often the first site where power is exercised and contested. Systems of control shape who is allowed to move freely, whose experiences are believed, whose identities are recognized, and whose autonomy is restricted. For those who are othered through race, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, or disability, their bodies become a terrain upon which broader social and political struggles are enacted, but because of that, they also become sites of resistance.