Pacific Concrete talk and reception - University of Dayton Galleries

Pacific Concrete talk and reception - University of Dayton Galleries

University of Dayton Galleries are excited to present Pacific Concrete by Mariquita ‘Micki’ Davis opening October 6th, 2022 at University of Dayton’s Index Gallery, with an artist talk and reception taking place October 13th, 2022 at 5pm in The Tank located underneath the Historic Dayton Arcade Rotunda. Pacific Concrete will be on view through November 18th.

Pacific Concrete presents photo-based works by Mariquita “Micki” Davis, a Chamoru multimedia artist and educator based in Los Angeles. Stemming from both the personal (her role as keeper of the family archive) and the public (the 2017 North Korean Missile Crisis), her work interrogates Guåhan (Guam) as a geo-political location while celebrating Pacific Islander culture and identity. Davis notes that when Kim Jong Un’s government was actively testing missiles over foreign waters, US leaders on the continent assured their constituents that they would be safe should the missiles launch, because they would be aimed “in the Pacific.” The artist was “deeply troubled by the vagueness of this mark, as though the destination had no form, no life, as though Guåhan was nothing more than a military target.” Through both thoughtful pathos and critical humor, her resulting photos, performances and installations provide a specific perspective that translates an abstract notion of oceanic space into a tangible, “concrete” experience.

For the Index Gallery exhibition, Davis’ lens-based works mingle with material artifacts including fabrics, clothing, and decorative relics which the artist’s grandparents used for large-scale altar pieces and celebrations. This complicated, vibrant narrative around ancestral relationships, politics and objecthood includes a performance and a public talk by the artist during her short residency at the University of Dayton.

University of Dayton Index Gallery is located at 31 South Main Street Dayton Ohio 45402 in The Hub by PNC Bank. The gallery is located directly on the Historic Dayton Arcade Rotunda. Gallery Hours are 9-5 Monday through Friday and 11-6 Sunday. The artist talk taking place at The Tank Thursday October 13th will be accessible both through the main entrance of the Hub or via the subway style entrance located on 4th street between Main and Ludlow with a reception to follow in the Index Gallery afterward from 6-8pm.

Pacific Concrete is part of the 2022 FotoFocus Biennial which encompasses more than 100 projects at Participating Venues across Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Dayton, and Columbus, and features more than 600 artists, curators, and participants—the largest of its kind in America. In Dayton alone there are more than 12 different exhibitions at 9 separate venues participating. 

For additional information contact University of Dayton Galleries Coordinator, Nicholaus Arnold at 937-229-3204 or narnold1@udayton.edu.

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