We asked our MFA in Visual Art students for their top summer reading picks!

Seeing America: Women Photographers Between the World Wars – Melissa A. McEuen, Ph.D

A meticulously researched, insightful, and thoroughly entertaining look at five women photographers who captured American History better than any others during the inter-war period.

Jaime Tamrakar, 2nd semester

 

The Body Silent –  Robert F. Murphy

For anyone interested in health issues—Murphy, an anthropologist, recounts his medical diagnosis and decline in physical mobility due to an inoperable spinal tumor. He uses social, political, and educational perspectives to describe the experiences of the sick or disabled population.

 

On Photography – Susan Sontag

Published in 1977, Sontag’s philosophical observations and theories are surprisingly hyper-relevant in today’s image obsessed society. Overall, Sontag provides a collection of essays that make the reader question the purposes and intentions of photography—what is worthy of being photographed?

Jessica Stratton, 2nd semester

 

Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity – José Esteban Muñoz

Cruising Utopia is a future-looking language of hope that dwells in the not-yet-here. It’s a language where potentiality is located in the ornamental, where queerness promises and proposes glimpses of worlds in the realm of the aesthetic—a realm where future social relations are mapped. Very inspiring!

Aaron Hoge, 2nd semester

 

Believing is Seeing – Errol Morris

An analytical exploration of artistic intentions found in certain famous photographs.

Ben Metzger, 2nd semester

 

So You Want to Talk About Race – Ijeoma Oluo

It is a bare bones proper discussion about race.  In a voice that is serious and funny, intelligent, witty…and genuine.  A really good read.

Kevin Gilmore, 3rd semester

 

Participation – Documents of Contemporary Art, Whitechapel

If your undergraduate experience was anything like mine, you probably didn’t get a lot of time to discuss contemporary performance, participation, or installation art. Participation is a great introductory book to help bring you up to speed with contemporary theory, ideologies, and approaches to performance art.

 

American Art of the 20th-21st Centuries  – Erika Doss

This book gives a wide overview of contemporary art, practices, and approaches. Its a great way to start your research and develop an understanding for where your art practice fits within the larger creative field.

Naomi Even-Aberle, 3rd semester

 

The Spell of the Sensuous – David Abram

 

Vibrant Matter – Jane Bennet

Lisa Blackburn, 4th semester

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