Watch interdisciplinary artist and Maryland Institute College of Art Master of Fine Arts graduate sāgar kāmath in conversation with APAC Curator of Digital & Emerging Media Adriel Luis. The discussion will explore sāgar’s process of the construction of his pieces, his chosen material's relationship with identity and his background in environmental sciences, and the passage of time while the piece was on display as part of our Centennial Celebration in May 2023.
About sāgar:
sāgar kāmath is an interdisciplinary artist working between mediums of painting, sculpture, installation, sound, video, collage, public art, and dance. his practice investigates the multiplicities of his identities as an Indian-born American through narrative building, materiality, line, space, and movement. his research-based methodology simultaneously interrogates his body, the surrounding landscape, and colonial histories through the engagement of non-linear time.
sāgar’s art education began at a young age with his father and continued through his time at Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12. sāgar received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and his Master of Fine Arts in Multidisciplinary Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Mount Royal School of Art. sāgar has had exhibitions and performances in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Washington, DC.
About Adriel:
Adriel Luis is a community organizer, artist, writer, and curator who believes that collective liberation can happen in poetic ways. His life’s work is focused on the mutual thriving of artistic integrity and social vigilance. He is a part of the iLL-Literacy arts collective, which creates music and media to strengthen Black and Asian coalitions, and is creative director of Bombshelltoe, a collaborative of artists and leaders from frontline communities responding to nuclear histories. Adriel is the Curator of Digital and Emerging Practice at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, where he advocates for equitable practices in museums and institutions. His ancestors are rooted in Toisan, China, and migrated through Hong Kong, Mexico, and the United States. Adriel was born on Ohlone land.
Adriel has curated projects in a range of venues including several museums across the Smithsonian in Washington, DC; MoMA and Pearl River Mart in New York City; Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia; Silo Park in Auckland, Aotearoa; Atom Bar in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and an abandoned Foodland in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. His writing has appeared in Poetry Magazine, the Asian American Literary Review, and Smithsonian Magazine. He has spoken at the Tate Modern, Yale University, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the China Academy of Fine Arts. His performance venues include the Brooklyn Academy of Music, SXSW, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the American University of Paris. He has a degree in human ecologies from UC Davis in Community and Regional Development and a minor in Asian American Studies.
Artist-in-residence and community member programs received federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.