03/23/2026
Our current exhibition, Timely Conversations, brings works from our collection into dialogue, pairing them to explore shared themes and new connections.
This pairing of works by Shahzia Sikander and Martine Gutierrez examines how beauty standards are constructed and enforced throughout time and across various cultures. Though working in very different mediums, both artists challenge Western ideals of femininity and the systems that shape how bodies are judged, represented, and valued.
In Maligned Monsters #2 (Double Standing Figures) (2000), Sikander juxtaposes two competing visions of the female form; one is rooted in South Asian tradition and the other in the Greco-Roman n**e. Referencing colonial misunderstandings of Indian art, the work reveals how Western standards long shaped what was considered beautiful or worthy.
Gutierrez’s Q***r Rage, Don’t Touch the Art, p. 68 from Indigenous Woman (2018) similarly critiques exclusive beauty ideals through the language of fashion and advertising. She shines a spotlight on the concept of the “supermodel” in order to expose femininity as something staged and culturally controlled.
Together, these works ask us to reconsider who defines beauty and who has been left out of that definition. Timely Conversations is open to the community in the Hanes Gallery until March 26.
Shahzia Sikander Maligned Monsters II, 2000
© Shazia Sikander, Courtesy: Sean Kelly.
Martine Gutierrez Q***r Rage, Don’t Touch the Art, p68 from Indigenous Woman, 2018 © Martine Gutierrez; Courtesy of the artist and Ryan Lee Gallery, New York
Timely Conversations will close this week on Thursday, March 26. Be sure to stop by and see these incredible artworks if you have not already!
