TOM KIEFER: El Sueño Americano / The American Dream

Tom Kiefer: El Sueño Americano / The American Dream

September 23 – December 23, 2023

Opening Reception Saturday, September 23

Members Preview 5 – 6 pm
Tom Kiefer in Conversation with Liz Allen 6 – 6:30 pm
Public Reception 6 – 8 pm

Tom Kiefer: El Sueño Americano / The American Dream is a photographic documentation of the personal belongings carried by migrants and those seeking asylum that were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at a processing facility near the artist’s home in Ajo, Arizona, about 40 miles from the U.S./Mexico border. U.S. border agents deemed these belongings as non-essential or potentially lethal. Kiefer asks the viewer to consider these photographs as untold and unknown stories, markers of human journeys cut short, creating a personal connection for the viewer that extends compassion and empathy to those who make the dangerous journey across the desert to seek a better life.

Click here to view Tom Kiefer in Conversation with Liz Allen

Click here to view Los Amuletos Migran (The Amulets Migrate), a conversation between Dora Rodriguez and Tom Kiefer

EXHIBITION PROGRAMMING supported by Arizona Humanities:

Erika Tsouras, Artist & Educator

Youth Art Drawing Workshop: Personal Object Portrait

Saturday, September 30th; 10 am – 12 noon, Ages 8-10; 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Ages 11-16; FREE (registration required)

Description: Students will create a drawing of an object that is special to them. Can an object tell a story about its owner? What are the limits and possibilities there? Students will then learn skills in observational drawing, shading, and emphasis in order to create a meaningful portrait of an object they bring from home.

—

Robert Neustadt, Ph.D., Professor of Spanish, NAU

Humanitarian Activist Panel Discussion

Thursday, November 2, 6:30 pm, FREE

Description: Panel discussion with prominent humanitarian activists from Southern Arizona: Dora Rodriguez, Scott Warren, John Fife, & Mike Wilson. Moderated by Robert Neustadt, Ph.D.

click here to learn more

—

Diana Coleman, Ph.D., Assistant Teaching Professor Comparative Study of Religion, NAU

Climate Disaster, Militarism, and Displacement in the Americas

Thursday, November 9, 6:30 pm, FREE

Description: Scholar Diana Coleman, Ph.D., presents Climate Disaster, Militarism, and Displacement in the Americas, a lecture through which she exposes the significant connections between global warming (climate disaster) and militarism within the Americas, how the cycle that binds them contributes as key driver of displacement and subsequent migration, and how certain populations are unduly vulnerable.

click here to learn more

—

Björn Krondorfer, Ph.D., Regents’ Professor and Director of the Martin-Springer Institute, NAU

The Aesthetics and Ethics of Representation

Thursday, November 30, 6:30 pm, FREE

Description: Björn Krondorfer, Ph.D., will talk about The Aesthetics and Ethics of Representation, reflecting on the relationship between photojournalism, art photography, and issues of found-objects and how to think about them in relation to individual stories within violent-traumatizing contexts.

click here to learn more

—

Master Chorale of Flagstaff

Let Me Listen – A Musical Journey Across Borders

Saturday, October 21, 3 PM, Tickets Required

Buy Tickets

Preview performance, Friday, October 20, 7 PM, FREE (reservations required)

masterchorale.net/listen