Featuring prints from the CCA Hamaguchi and Artists' Book Collections and Graphic Arts Workshop. Curated by Professor Anthea Black's Printmedia History class 2024:

Lauren Bartlett

Gabi Dagdag

Luke-Thomas Henderson

Lauren Herrala

Camila Killion

Barbara Klassen

Brennan Mayr

Aris Ruff

Zoe Spikerman

Khushi Thakkar

The delicate barrier of each human body exists as a bridge. Witnessing and experiencing life, letting it exhilarate us and letting it harrow us. With the means to create, we each must contemplate, how ought we act? The printmaker, whether through intent or coincidence, precisely captures the events of their time. The subject of violence and cruelty across time demands our attention. This exhibition includes works on paper that expose the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, Argentina’s Dirty War, the massacre of the Lakota peoples at Wounded Knee, Ukrainian life in Soviet times, and critiques of the Vietnam war. Each is a window into a moment, dignifying it with a visual record. These events are not far away: they inform understandings of history, and they deserve our acknowledgement. In the face of great suffering and deprivation, works from the Japanese Ukiyo-e period and contemporary print artists offer solace in the home, beauty, and the environment. Each act of cruelty and every act of compassionate witnessing documented in print becomes our legacy. In this exhibition, we voice a collective desire for rebirth and justice. As artists, we hold crisp paper, etch deep lines, seeking the awe of saturated ink on the page. These documents carry the events of our time into an uncertain future. As artists: how ought we act? How ought we react?

The Printmedia Program wishes to thank our colleagues, the CCA Exhibitions and Public Programming team: Manuel Angeja, Installation Manager, and Jaime Austin, Director; and the CCA Libraries team: Teri Dowling, Director, and Daniel Ransom, Instructional Services Librarian.