School of Visual Arts (SVA) MFA Photography, Video and Related Media department presents the thesis exhibition 2022, which includes lens and screen-based media by 12 students curated by Nat Trotman, curator, performance and media, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition will be on view from Thursday, June 23, through Monday, July 11, at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor, New York City. The film screening will take place on Tuesday, September 13, 6:30 to 9:00pm, at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street.

Exhibition curator Nat Trotman writes:

“Over the past two years, our daily lives have been profoundly transformed as political divisions, public health concerns and economic shifts have rewoven the very fabric of society. For the 2022 MFA Photography, Video and Related Media graduating class—the first to enroll in the department during the COVID-19 pandemic—these conditions have comprised an inescapable yet productive context for their work. Each of the 12 artists whose projects appear here has created their own powerful aesthetic statement, but through their individual material and stylistic choices, each has also responded to the contemporary moment. The result is a uniquely coherent yet varied thesis exhibition.

“Unsurprisingly, a mood of anxiety presides over this year’s presentation. The featured artists repeatedly probe the shifting boundaries between self and society, questioning how identity and agency might be navigated in a world that seems to be largely outside our control. For many, this entails an examination of public space and the systems of power that permeate it. Studies of city streets, suburban lawns and architectural interiors appear alongside works that allude to the digital arenas of social media and virtual reality. A number of projects dwell on issues of cultural displacement, social isolation, or mental health, fostering empathy and understanding through personal encounters with pain or suffering. The human body remains ever-present, if not literally depicted then implicated as a sensate, perceiving entity that mediates between individual subjectivity and collective experience.

“As this year’s graduates explore these interconnected topics, they engage a vast range of media, including traditional print photography, handmade sculptures, digitally-rendered images and objects, video installation and—in what may be a first for this program—gestural painting. The excellence of their projects, developed through their shared commitment to formal experimentation, conceptual rigor and deeply human connection, testifies to these artists’ strength and perseverance in the midst of overwhelming social change.”

Artists featured in this exhibition and screening are Shuwan Chen, Phoelix (Yiwen Gou), Stephanie (ChihWei) Hsu, Alex Leav, Mengmeng Ma, Natsuko Matsumara, Sunhong Park, Steven Uccello, Neo Xu, Xiaoran Xu, Ziyu Ying and Xuemeng Zhang.

The SVA Chelsea Gallery is open Monday through Thursday, from 9:00am to 5:00pm, and closed Friday through Sunday. The public may visit by showing proof of full vaccination (including booster, if eligible) and photo ID. Proper masking is required. It is fully accessible by wheelchair.