Collection Spotlight

Collection Spotlight: Motion #53, Laura Aguilar

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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Northwestern Learning

Middle Eastern North African Student Association recognized for their Block collaboration

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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Staff Stories

Meet Chris Forrester, Communications Coordinator

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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On Equity and Action, Partnerships

In Good Relation: Reimagining the Grant Process for Community-Based Projects

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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Collection Spotlight, Northwestern Learning

Depictions of Intimacy and Repose: Vitoria Monteiro de Carvalho Faria on Block internship installation

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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Collection Spotlight

Collection Spotlight: The Arabic Alphabet portfolio (1973), Hussein Madi

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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