current, upcoming & past

This installation of photographs from SCMA’s collection invites visitors to slow down and imagine the lives unfolding in each image. What each person notices, and what they bring from their own experiences, shapes the story they see. Moving from photograph to photograph, visitors may consider what is happening in the captured moment, which visual clues build a narrative, what lies beyond the frame, and what came before or might follow.

Inas Halabi, We Have Always Known the Wind’s Direction (2019–2020), HD video, color, sound, Arabic, 12 min

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?

This project, called Worlds in Process: Art from the SCMA Collection, pilots new strategies for displaying the collection. 

The installation includes artworks from a range of time periods, cultures, materials, and perspectives alongside places to gather and reflect. When a group of museum staff set out to reimagine this floor, we wanted to try some new approaches, which included deepening our understanding of what visitors (especially Smith College students) find most meaningful and welcoming.