News

April 13, 2016

“Megerman Beach,” a Senior Thesis Show by Amalya Megerman, Opens at the Lewis Center

The Program in Visual Arts at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University will present “Megerman Beach,” an installation by senior Amalya Megerman exploring her childhood memories, familial relationships, and the ways in which nostalgia and identity both illuminate and obfuscate those recollections. The installation will be on view April 18 through April 21 in the Lucas Gallery at 185 Nassau Street. A reception with the artist will be held on April 21 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the gallery. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

artwork

One of senior Amalya Megerman’s works that will be included in her exhibition, “Megerman Beach.” Photo by Justin Goldberg

Megerman, a Teaneck, New Jersey native, is majoring in anthropology and pursuing a certificate in Chinese language and culture, in addition to a certificate in the Program in Visual Arts. Working from a feminist anthropological base, Megerman explores the conjunction between gender and memory in the context of familial relationships, the basis of residual, intergenerational trauma that flows through and is refigured by her subjectivity.

Using a range of materials, Megerman’s installation seeks to activate visual, aural and aromatic recollections that move in and out of her consciousness yet do not form a neat narrative or intend to fully depict her self. “The cross-grained experiences of my paternal grandmother (an Auschwitz survivor), my father, and mother,” notes Megerman, “all drift into, and out of, reverberate within my subjectivity, which I externalize in the pastiche of found objects, accumulated materials, videos, sound, and performance, that immerse the viewer in my vivid, surreal, and hypnotic inner world.”

Megerman notes the influence of artist and faculty member Martha Friedman on her work during her time at Princeton. After taking Friedman’s junior seminar and an advanced sculpture course, Megerman explains she experienced growth in her development and confidence as an artist. Friedman serves as Megerman’s adviser.

Megerman shares the gallery space with senior Aliisa Lee, who is presenting an extensive series of digitally-created images that provide a sequential visual narrative enabling the viewer to “walk through the story.”

The Lucas Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Press Contact

Steve Runk
Director of Communications
609-258-5262
srunk@princeton.edu