Artist: Laura Aguilar (Chicana, 1959–2018)Title: Motion #53Date: 1999Medium: Gelatin silver printDimensions: 11 x 14 inchesCredit line: Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Julie and Lawrence Bernstein Family Art Acquisition Fund Purchase, 2023.3.1. Image copyright of The Estate of Laura Aguilar. The artist Laura Aguilar once said that she felt most comfortable in […]
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The renowned Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul became fascinated as a young boy by the sounds and moving images his mother, a physician, could conjure with medical equipment – the beat of a human heart heard through a stethoscope, the sight of a microorganism wriggling under a microscope. “I think, more or less, at that time […]
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The Block is excited to congratulate the Middle Eastern North African (MENA) Student Association on their Winter 2023 Wildcat Impact Award. The Wildcat Impact Awards are given quarterly by the Office of Student Affairs to honor and recognize students and student organizations who have contributed to bettering student life, campus engagement and inclusivity at Northwestern. […]
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In Spring 2023, The Block welcomed Chris Forrester as Communications Coordinator. With a background in journalism, Chris joins The Block team to partner in our storytelling. He will focus on generating coverage outreach, and resources that showcase the Block’s work and extend our interdisciplinary teaching, learning and research mission. We sat down with Chris to […]
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Throughout 2022-23, a series of talks consider works from The Block’s collection that reckon with the history of slavery, white supremacy, symbols of nationhood, and social inequity. This online talk was held in connection with 2022–23 One Book One Northwestern (OBON) selection How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across […]
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How can funding models and grant-writing processes be more equitable and inclusive? At The Block, collaborators Kate Hadley Toftness and Lois Taylor Biggs (Cherokee Nation and White Earth Ojibwe) are challenging traditional approaches to fundraising with practices informed by Indigenous practices of collaboration, reciprocity, and sustained dialogue. In the below essay, originally published on the American […]
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As part of her 2023 Block Curatorial Internship Vitoria Monteiro de Carvalho Faria conducted original research within the museum collection. Her investigation into the visual and thematic connections between two prints resulted in an installation in the Block’s conference space. Faria shares the intriguing alignment she curated at the museum. Although separated by 150 years, […]
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Artist: Hussein Madi (Lebanese, born 1938)Title: The Arabic Alphabet portfolioDate: 1973Medium: 30 etchings on cotton paperDimensions: Each 30 x 24.4 cmCredit line: Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, gift of Sami Khalifé, M.D. As part of his varied practice, artist Hussein Madi has explored Arabic letters, words, and calligraphy. In The Arabic Alphabet (1973), a portfolio of thirty […]
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The Block is excited to celebrate Rowan McCloskey (Dance and Political Science ’25), a member of the Block Museum Student Associate cohort, who has been named one of the 2023 Northwestern University Student Employees of the Year. This program of the Federal Work-Study Office acknowledges the significant contributions made by students and emphasizes the importance […]
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The Block’s Eloise W. Martin Study Center (EMSC) is a classroom inside the museum that offers an intimate setting for the study and use of artwork in The Block’s collection. Katy Kim (Art History and Political Science ’23) reflects on her experience setting up a private visit to one of Northwestern’s most unique research centers. […]
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