December 22, 2018 - September 1, 2019
Gallery 315 and 316
Free Exhibition

How does a museum grow with the times, address the wrongs of the past, and begin to reflect the community it serves? The works of art in these galleries are all recent additions to the collection, or are promised gifts from community members. Together, they represent Mia’s ongoing initiatives to expand and broaden its collection of postwar and contemporary drawings and collages to better represent the remarkable diversity of artistic achievement in the United States and elsewhere.

Mia is acquiring important works on paper by leading artists whose work is either absent or underrepresented in the museum’s collection. And we are increasing the number of artworks in the collection by leading African American, Latinx, and women artists, whose work has faced discrimination within the predominantly white, male, Eurocentric view of art history. Resetting our collecting strategy is one way Mia can stay true to its mission of enriching the community by collecting, preserving, and exhibiting outstanding works of art.

Mitchell Squire, American, born 1958 Smoke 1, 2015 From “Smoke” series Graphite, salvaged law enforcement paper targets shot through, housed in artist-made painted plywood enclosure Gift of Mary and Bob Mersky 2017.80.2