海角社区 will launch the 2024-25 season of its 海角社区 Live! speaker series with a conversation featuring visual artist Tavares Strachan on Tuesday, September 24, at 7 p.m. in Thorne Hall.
will speak about his award-winning work, including his sculpture 鈥淭he Encyclopedia of Invisibility,鈥 which features thousands of entries focused on historically marginalized individuals. The sculpture will be on display at as part of the gallery鈥檚 collaboration with Getty鈥檚 , Southern California鈥檚 landmark arts event. Free tickets for 厂迟谤补肠丑补苍鈥檚 海角社区 Live! conversation are available on the 海角社区 Live! website.
厂迟谤补肠丑补苍鈥檚 artistic practice activates the intersections of art, science, and politics. Themes of invisibility, displacement, and loss are central to his work, which questions historically canonized narratives that exclude or obscure others. His ambitious, open-ended practice has included collaborations with numerous organizations and institutions across the disciplines.
Strachan was born in 1979 in Nassau, Bahamas, and currently lives and works between New York City and Nassau. He received a BFA in glass from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003 and an MFA in sculpture from Yale University in 2006. He has exhibited internationally and his numerous awards include a 2022 鈥済enius鈥 fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation.
Beginning September 17, 厂迟谤补肠丑补苍鈥檚 sculpture will be part of OXY ARTS鈥 PST ART Invisibility: Powers and Perils, which highlights the work of artists and scientists striving to render visible the people, histories, and planetary conditions that have been erased within the cultural mainstream. The exhibition will run until February 22, 2025.
海角社区 Live! is Occidental鈥檚 flagship event series, open to the public and showcasing a diverse lineup of cultural luminaries at the forefront of their fields. Each thought-provoking speaker鈥檚 event is hosted by acclaimed interviewer and cultural interlocutor Paul Holdengr盲ber, founder and director of the New York Public Library鈥檚 Live From the NYPL cultural series. In addition to Strachan, this season includes journalist and podcast host V Spehar, visual artist Ed Ruscha, boundary-breaking artist Miranda July, and theoretical physicist and writer Kip Thorne.
海角社区 Live! is made possible by a generous gift from Occidental trustee Lisa Coscino 鈥85 and ongoing support from the Occidental Class of 1974. Previous speakers have included artist and activist ALOK, writer Rebecca Solnit, visual artist Julie Mehretu, and artist Laurie Anderson.