The first week of April brought us gloomy skies and downpours here in Middletown, but in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, the second rotation of art studio senior thesis installations shone brightly enough to chase the clouds away. Kicked off with a reception at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, the exhibit included works of Michael Fadugbagbe ’25, Isabella Koz ’25, Gino Palacios ’25, Olivia Snow ’25, Spencer Turner ’25, Loren Wang ’25, Lena Weiman ’25, and Jasmin Wong ’25. While each installation varied in medium, scale, and theme, the artworks all served as unique expressions of emotion, intellect, and truth from their respective artists, each leaving distinct, lasting impressions on this viewer.
Fadugbagbe’s thesis, entitled “e be so!”, used a combination of still and moving images to reflect on the events of Bloody August.
Fadugbagbe explained the installation’s various elements in more detail in an email to The Argus.
“My exhibition…contained five images produced in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria during Bloody August,” Fadugbagbe wrote. “A video/film piece shown on three Retro CRT TVs and snake plants sourced by members of the Middletown community surround[ed] a peacock chair as a tribute to my late uncle.”
In November 2024, Amnesty International published a report detailing a number of killings by Nigerian authorities during the series of #EndBadGovernance protests that occurred across the country from Aug. 1 to Aug. 10, 2024.
“This briefing documents attacks on the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression during the #EndBadGovernance protests in many parts of Nigeria, between 1–10 August 2024,” the report reads. “Amnesty International’s investigation found that the Nigeria police killed at least 24 protesters in Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Niger, and Borno states. This reflects widespread nature of the crackdown on #EndBadGovernance protesters…. Amnesty International believes the exact number of persons killed during the #EndBadGovernance protests is higher.”
With this tragedy as the solemn background for his work, Fadugbagbe conducted phenomenological research while visiting family in Lagos last year, which he brought together with memoir work from his journal writing and original photography from during his visit, as well as archival images, to create his final installation. He expressed his hope for the exhibition to bring awareness to an untold story.
“[I hope] that [viewers of the installation] come to their own interpretations, but realize that what happened in Nigeria during Bloody August did happen, it was true, lives were lost even if the story hasn’t been told,” Fadugbagbe wrote.
Koz also used a blend of various media in her thesis installation “What Stands,” including original drawings which she composed from memory, furniture constructed from bricks, sculptures, and wood constructed and burnt with a traditional Japanese fireproofing method called shou sugi ban.
In an email to The Argus, Koz explained how exploring the theme of impermanence led her to choose the various materials she incorporated in her display.
“My thesis was inspired by the idea of impermanence, and how even the most stable elements of our lives are subject to change,” she wrote. “This prompted my attraction to brick as a material for sculpture, as they are fragile upon impact but bedrock in climate disasters. Furthermore, this focal point aided my drawing practice which sought to speak to the subjectivity of memory and how it changes over time.”
Ultimately, Koz hoped that the installation would inspire viewers to reflect on their own experiences with the concept of permanence as it relates to ideas, physical spaces, and even other people.
Palacios’ thesis “Playtime” evoked both introspection and whimsy through an interactive display that invited viewers to get creative and share their own art using the elements of the exhibition, which included a ream of white paper, drawing instruments, and blocks of various shapes, sizes, and colors.
“This is an interactive exhibition that invites playful exploration,” a plaque near the installation read. “Draw, write, color, build—let your creativity guide you.”
Liv Snow indulged in her deep love of painting to construct her thesis exhibition “s u r f a c e t r e a t m e n t,” which was comprised of three individual artworks composed of oil, acrylic, gel gloss, ink, crackle paste, iridescent interference fluid, and gold on 57 distinct pieces of wood panel, mirror, and satin.
In an email to The Argus, Snow detailed her artistic process, as well as the various materials she used in her pieces.
“My thesis is themed around the multi-sensory experience of various interesting textures in serialization,” she wrote. “In my process, I enjoy repetition to a point of meditation, practicing patience and taking in the beauty of each small mark. I got to experiment with scale, slow tonal shifts, and novel techniques…. The element that unites all three pieces, however, is light reflectivity; mirrors, gold foil, and Liquid Leaf make the whole bay sparkle.”
Turner’s thesis, “Preamble: a long night is come,” gave powerful glimpses into life on and off campus through striking images in a carefully assembled still photography series. In addition, Wang’s exhibit, “situational awareness,” emerged viewers in a fully immersive experience with moving images projected along with an array of layered sounds in a separated area of the gallery that attendees could remain in for as long as they wanted.
Weiman’s thesis,“Please Greet the Beings (Especially Jodie (She’s Shy (But She Appreciates the Gesture))),” questioned the idea of a being with seven semi-anthropomorphic sculptures made of constructed and found objects.
In an email to The Argus, Weiman explained how she attempted to bring her art to life and respect the wishes of the beings she created.
“My thesis was a constant evolution of concept with the core of it always being this concept of a ‘being,’” Weiman wrote. “I was really interested in what made something a being, and how to bring life to a collection of objects and materials. I treated each being as an individual and tried to ask them what they needed.”
Weiman also expressed her enjoyment of the creative process and her hopes for viewers of her installation, in turn, to find joy within the work as they observed it.
“In my process I really reacted to the materials as I went,” she wrote in the email to The Argus. “I’m especially drawn to texture and color, and I loved playing with a variety of disparate mediums that could all be combined into one being…. I like having elements of humor and elements of intrigue. There were so many tiny little details if people took their time to sit with the beings and notice them, but I am also excited by having an immediate visual impact that anyone can enjoy. I guess if nothing else I hope it brings a little joy.”
Finally, Wong’s exhibit, “Thin Walls,” presented a still photography series of a variety of inanimate subjects from unconventional points of view, imbuing each object with a new meaning.
Overall, the second week of art studio theses was an incredible sight to behold, and, since my words could never encapsulate the experience of seeing these amazing artists’ work for yourself, I’ll leave you with a few words that are posted in Snow’s art studio.
“Absolute perfection in imperfection,” Snow’s original prose reads. “Soft bleeding of thin ink into wood grain. Ripples of pulled paint. Smears of anger. Gold where gold need not be. One hundred thousand circles. Made in fifty hours, looked at for seven seconds. I could do that. It’s just lines. Dots and lines. It’s not hard, no, it’s not. Turn off the brain. Cease to exist. Become hand. Become arched spine. Then take a piece of nothing, breathe it life, and lay back down. There is no such thing. Be not afraid. Endure.”
Sulan Bailey can be reached at sabailey@wesleyan.edu.
Leave a Reply