Jess Dugan Artist Talk

Gregory Allicar Museum of Art presents

a talk by acclaimed artist Jess Dugan, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019,

in conjunction with the exhibition To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Older Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults

The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art at Colorado State University presents an artist talk by Jess Dugan on Friday, February 15, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. in the Griffin Concert Hall of the University Center for the Arts, followed by a reception in the museum, located in the same building. Part of the museum’s Critic & Artist Residency Series, the talk is held in conjunction with the exhibition To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults, on view at the museum until May 18, 2019.

Representations of older transgender people are nearly absent from our culture and those that do exist are often one-dimensional. For more than five years, photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre traveled throughout the United States creating To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. Seeking subjects whose lived experiences exist within the complex intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class, and geographic location, they traveled from coast to coast, to big cities and small towns, documenting the life stories of this important but largely underrepresented group of older adults. The featured individuals share a wide variety of life narratives spanning the last ninety years, offering an important historical record of transgender experience and activism in the United States. The resulting portraits and narratives offer a nuanced view into the struggles and joys of growing older as a transgender person and offer a poignant reflection on what it means to live authentically despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

Jess T. Dugan (American, b. 1986, Biloxi, Mississippi) is an artist whose work explores issues of identity, gender, sexuality, and community. She received her M.F.A. in Photography from Columbia College Chicago (2014), her Master of Liberal Arts in Museum Studies from Harvard University (2010), and her B.F.A. in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (2007). Dugan has exhibited at venues including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Aperture Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, the Catherine Edelman Gallery, The Transformer Station, and at many colleges and universities throughout the United States. The critically acclaimed project To Survive on This Shore has received attention from CNN, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Slate, Artspace, and The Advocate, among others.

The exhibition at the Gregory Allicar presents a portfolio of twelve portraits and accompanying interviews that Dugan prepared especially for university art museums, which was recently acquired for the permanent collection of the museum. After the exhibition closes at the museum, a photograph from the portfolio will be displayed at the Lory Student Center, with the selection changing annually. According to Dr. Lynn Boland, the museum’s director and chief curator, “Dugan’s beautiful and poignant portfolio helps the museum to meaningfully contribute to a critical conversation of our time. Art opens up dialog, it provides new perspectives, it sheds light on cultures past and present, and here, thanks to a groundswell of support from across the CSU campus, it does so, not just for a three-month exhibition run, but in perpetuity as part of the museum’s permanent collection.”

The exhibition To Survive on This Shore is presented by the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art at Colorado State University in collaboration with the Center for Fine Art Photography. The exhibition and related programs are made possible by a grant from the Lilla B. Morgan Memorial Endowment, which works to enhance the cultural development and atmosphere for the arts at Colorado State University (CSU), and with support from the Pride Resource Center at CSU, the Lory Student Center Arts Program at CSU, RamEvents at CSU, the Diversity Offices at CSU, and the FUNd at CSU.

RELATED PROGRAMS

PROGRAM – MIX – MULTICULTURAL, INTERSECTIONAL, INCLUSIVITY EXCHANGE

Thursday, April 18, 2019 at 5 p.m.

In the realm of minority representation and social justice efforts, there is still so much that needs to be done in different areas of society. Conversations about feminism, sexual minorities rights, gender, racism, accessibility, xenophobia and other important issues have been ongoing for decades but being aware of the problems is not enough.

Whether it’s inside museums, which have historically played a role as gatekeepers of culture, often replicating the barriers to minorities in society; or universities, which are still far from being accessible for all social classes; or the corporate and political worlds, with its glass ceilings still largely intact. The question is: how do we affect change? Now in its second year, this annual program explores this question through a moderated discussion.

For more information, please contact Silvia Minguzzi at silvia.minguzzi@colostate.edu or call (970) 491-0743.

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The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art is always free and open to all. The museum invites individuals to engage with art and each other to inspire fresh perspectives and wonder. The museum is a catalyst for visual literacy and critical thinking that instills a passion for learning. The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art is located in the University Center for the Arts, just east of College Avenue. The address is 1400 Remington Street, Colorado State University, CD 1778, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1778. The museum is open Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., and Thursdays until 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit artmuseum.colostate.edu or call (970) 491-1989