Cliff Notes
Each week, our regional Cliff Notes columnists Fox Whitney, Alitzah Oros, Melika Sebihi, and Kaya Noteboom pick the most exciting events and exhibitions on the West Coast.
Maya Gurantz: The Plague Archives
de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
January 28 to June 14, 2025
I’m curious about The Plague Archives, an exhibition of Maya Gurantz’s work that opens at Santa Clara University’s on-campus museum later this month. This research project manifests itself in the form of a multimedia installation, comprised of videos, performances, and archival material. The artist’s ongoing quest to document disease-related historic ephemera can be found @theplaguearchives on Instagram—a smorgasbord of scans and screenshots of public service announcements, advertisements, sketches, and newspaper clippings associated with pandemics throughout time.
Like many of the artworks and exhibitions created in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, this body of work is decidedly political, but with a refreshing take that doesn’t feel overdone or oversimplified. It’s a presentation of an entire archive of passionate research living at the intersection of art and history, investigating varied aspects of the human condition under the duress of disease. Why do we tend toward “collective amnesia” in the face of a pandemic, as evidenced by the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic? How have vaccine conspiracy theories been started and perpetuated throughout time? How has disease been weaponized as a tool of colonialism? The varied angles the artist takes in this project intrigue me equally.
Reflection: What are the benefits and drawbacks of looking to the past as our guide?
Kija Lucas: Hidden Histories
Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA
January 11 to April 27, 2025
In 2020, Kija Lucas visited a studio art class I took as a senior at Mills College. She presented The Museum of Sentimental Taxonomy, a project where the artist invited several participants to bring a nostalgic object to her studio to be photographed. Over time, this work became an ever growing record of the memories, meanings, and experiences we attach to things. It made a sincere impression on me—an image from the series of a necklace with two charms graces the cover of one of my Spotify playlists.
Hidden Histories feels like an extension of, and in relation to, Sentimental Taxonomy. Rather than centering a vast array of sentimental objects as conduits to deeper meaning, Lucas instead focuses on botanical subjects as chroniclers of heritage, geography, and personal history. Simplistic photographs of both native and invasive plant species throughout the Bay Area at locations specific to the artist’s life reveal not only her particular history to herself, but our collective history to the viewer.
I’m charmed by this effective concept and its understated means. One of my favorite aspects of photography is its ability to convey an incredible depth of meaning by simply presenting the world to you, requiring little frills or embellishments to make its claim. On a separate note, the acquisition of Mills College by Northeastern University in 2022 resulted in the dissolution of the Studio Art & Art History programs, as well as all five renowned MFA programs. It’s comforting to know that art lives on at the Mills campus in some form.
Reflection: What is precious to you? What does it say about your personal history, values, and environment?