Crafts are functional objects creatively made by skillful artisans using specialized knowledge and techniques. As our world increasingly embraces modes of making that are ever more detached from the human hand and mind, what is the significance of making crafts?

On view for the first time at SCMA, the video installation AKA by artist and Smith College alumna Garrett Bradley addresses how colorism and upward mobility affect the relationships between mothers and daughters.

Finnegan Shannon is an artist whose mischievous works challenge traditional museum practices and etiquette. For Don’t mind if I do, Shannon brings alive their longtime fantasy for an exhibition that meets their access needs. “I’m disabled,” they say, “and I need to sit. I’ve been dreaming about an exhibition where instead of having to move from artwork to artwork, I could sit somewhere comfortable and have the artwork come to me.”

For 25 years, Meridians journal has published scholarship and creative work at the intersection of feminism, race and transnationalism on Smith’s campus. In its 25th anniversary issue, themes of identity, perception, and spirituality connect across different contexts and cultures. In the words of featured author El-Sherif, these works allow us “to see ourselves more clearly, to know ourselves better in order to live better.”