FAINT/HIDDEN/SHROUDED: Contemplating Obscurity invites you to uncover hidden meanings and symbols buried beneath layers, prompting inquiry into what is visible and what has been deliberately concealed. This exhibition, ranging from the tangible to the abstract, explores the interplay between remembrance and forgetting, presence and absence, and erasure and illumination. FAINT/HIDDEN/SHROUDED draws attention to the identities and intentions of artists and their work which have been often overlooked and obscured.

The artists in the show engage in literal obscurity methods through layering and fragmentation, shadowing, and cropping; other works in the exhibition are more abstract, remaining entirely blank or playing with less direct forms of obscurity to shed light on the underrepresented and address tensions between being recognized and remaining hidden. Selected from the University of Contemporary Art’s permanent collection, FAINT/HIDDEN/SHROUDED features exemplary works by distinguished artists, including Chakaia Booker, Elliott Erwitt, Ralph Gibson, Rashid Johnson, Jefferson Pinder, and others.

Co-curated by Ruthie Baker, an M.F.A. Studio Arts candidate, Simone Cambridge, an M.A. History of Art and Architecture candidate, and Olivia Haynes, a Ph.D. candidate in Afro- American Studies, FAINT/HIDDEN/SHROUDED: Contemplating Obscurity invites visitors to engage in patient and contemplative observation. Encouraging a measured pace, the exhibition prompts viewers to unravel the layers embedded within each work, honoring what has been concealed.

The University Museum of Contemporary Art’s annual Eva Fierst Curatorial Fellowship Exhibition represents the culmination of a year-long independent project. A collaborative initiative between the art history and studio arts graduate programs, the program aims to deepen participants’ comprehension of the intellectual and practical facets of curatorial practices within a museum setting and offers a unique curatorial experience for graduate students interested in museum careers.

Since 2021, program has been supported by The Eva Fierst Student Curatorial Exhibition Fund, an endowment to support the UMCA’s Annual Graduate Student Curatorial Exhibition, which the Museum initiated in 2006. Learn more and view past Graduate Student Curatorial Exhibitions here.