MFA AP welcomes new faculty member Beatrice Glow! To get to know her better, we’ve asked her to complete the AP Questionnaire.
What was the last thing you made?
I just finished a 48 x 64 in. painting of tobacco smoke.
What was the last thing you read?
Principles of Environmental Justice by the National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 1991.
What was the last exhibition you saw?
Rachelle Mozman Solano's brilliant “Metamorphosis of Failure” at Smack Mellon that was curated by Gabriel de Guzman.
What motivates your practice?
The joy of co-laboring with resilient communities, activating the power of art to challenge dominant narratives and using beauty the uplift us collectively.
How has your practice changed?
That's a very broad question! There are more and more layers, media and senses that compound my creative process. My trajectory began retracing the escape route of Chinese "coolie" (laborers) in Peru to map migratory landmarks and the lens have widened to weave stories between continents, islands and cultures as a means to trace wealth inequality, environmental degradation and resource exploitation on a more macro scale. My commitment to the communities and places that I advocate for, as well as an archival research approach, have become more and more central to my practice. I like to stay with projects for longer time periods for deeper inquiries. For example, my ongoing project Rhunhattan: A Tale of Two Islands began in 2015 and has evolved into bridging dialogues on shared heritages and environmental futures between the Netherlands, US and Indonesia.
Who do you most admire?
Teachers, healers, visionaries, builders... Grace Lee Boggs embodies many of those qualities!
Your favorite artwork made before your lifetime?
Austronesian Outrigger Canoes
Your favorite artwork made during your lifetime?
I can't forget Laurent Grasso's Uraniborg installation that I had the privilege of experiencing at the Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal. It was an atmospheric masterpiece.