Soundings
Dolph Simons Family Gallery, The Estelle S. & Robert A. Long Ellis Gallery
William Roach: Nantucket Whaler, 1833, United States, William Bridges Thayer Memorial, 1928.4110
What does the sea look like in the artistic imagination? How has thinking with the sea allowed people around the world to navigate their relationships to one another and to the earth?
Soundings: Making Culture at Sea explores how visual representations of oceans from different times and places across history have helped humans articulate questions and concerns that are political, cultural, and environmental.
Featuring works of art and material culture made in the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia, this exhibition shows how in the past and present the world’s oceans are a space for cross-cultural reflections on the relationship between humans and the earth. Through works of historic and contemporary art, the exhibition focuses on the role of the sea in legacies of racial inequity, including settler-colonialism, the transatlantic slave trade, and the climate crisis. The featured artists make visible not only the nature and impact of these inequities but also point the way forward to healing and a more equitable future.
A nautical sounding is a way to measure the depth of a body of water. This exhibition is the second in a series of “soundings” that draw from the depths and richness of the Spencer Museum’s collection to reveal its vitality, ongoing relevance, and ability to inspire new perspectives. The series launched in 2018 with an exhibition curated by Charles Eldredge, Hall Distinguished Professor Emeritus of American Art and Culture. Soundings: Making Culture at Sea is curated by Hall Assistant Professor of American Art and Culture Emily Casey in collaboration with the Spencer's Director of Academic Programs Celka Straughn.
Exhibition Resources
Explore this exhibition in our online collection to find a complete object list, label text, and additional images.