“Beyond the Bell” Guest Speaker Examines Global Citizenship Via Maps
On Thursday, October 20, explore “Maps, Migration, and Darkness: Rewilding our Visual
Language as a Method of Decolonization” as part of the Beyond the Bell exhibit mounted
by WCU’s Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology. The event will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Philips Autograph Library and is free
and open to the public.
Philadelphia-based artist and activist Ana Vizcarra Rankin, whose inverted mapwork is on display in Beyond the Bell, will discuss issues such as implicit bias caused by traditional north/south orientation, the role of dark skies in environmental conservation, and how place naming has contributed to the erasure of Native cultures. Using cartography and art history as a departure point, she will speak about how we are already in a new era of global citizenship, regardless of the current geopolitical climate or domestic partisanship.
A Uruguayan American artist based in Philadelphia, Vizcarra Rankin has exhibited extensively and received various awards. She holds an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and a bachelor’s degree in art history from Temple University.
This program is co-sponsored by the Anthropology Club, the Department of Art + Design and WCU’s Institute on Race and Ethnic Studies.
Beyond the Bell tells the authentic stories of the diverse communities that have made Philadelphia what it is today. It was created by 15 students in WCU’s museum studies program in partnership with the Global Philadelphia Association (GPA) to highlight the city’s narrative beyond its colonial heritage of the Liberty Bell.
Read more about Beyond the Bell here.
For more information, visit WCU’s Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology or email museum@wcupa.edu.