E PLURIBUS :: REFLECTIONS ON THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11

UNUM:  September 11 - November 4, 2016
Silent Funny:  January - March, 2017
Kent State University Gallery:  August 29 - October 14, 2017

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It has been 15 years since September 11, 2001, and this anniversary is an important time for reflection.

Often artists make work as a respite from the times and contemporary issues, but the artists gathered here felt compelled to respond to the 9/11 attacks and the repercussions of those tragic events from which the world still reels. Through an unsentimental perspective, combined with beauty and craft, they call attention to, and offer opportunities for engagement about, topics ranging from drone strikes in Pakistan, to those detained without trial in Guantanamo, to the destruction and looting of ancient and contemporary culture from Iraq to Syria.  On this anniversary, we can ask “what have we learned?” and hopefully find answers that can inform our actions in the future.

Below please find selections from the exhibitions by the artists represented: Mahwish Chishty, Amber Ginsburg and Aaron Hughes, Jackie Kazarian, Michael Rakowitz, Alison Ruttan, and myself, Barbara Koenen.  In 2016, E Pluribus was shown at Kent State University Galleries. Mary King and Sabba Elahi were added to the programme.