Hemisphere Symposium

We are hosting a symposium in celebration of the 15th Volume of Hemisphere: Visual Cultures of the Americas, an annual publication produced by graduate students affiliated with the Department of Art at the University of New Mexico (UNM). The opening remarks will be by Chief Editor of Volume 15, Beth Wilson Norwood. The symposium will include talks by the authors in the volume: 

Catherine Nuckols’ essay, “Sun Gods and Forest Figures: Duality and Complementarity in Copán Stela D’s Full-Figure Inscription” examines Maya full figure glyphs in Copan’s Stela D, highlighting how Maya art and writing are one in the same.  

In “The Wild Child of the Soil: The Symbol of the Datura Plant in Southwestern Art, from Ancient Native American Cultures to Georgia O’Keeffe,” Adrian Butler offers a survey of the depiction of Datura, also known as Jimsonweed, in the Southwest over hundreds of years. 

Like Butler, Jacki Putnam examines the work of artists from the twentieth century in “Reframing Knowledge, Reenacting Myth, and Remapping Identity: Photographic Interpretations of Mesoamerican Codices.” Her article looks at the work of three photographers, all working in the 1980s, who drew inspiration from Mesoamerican codices. Each article approaches the theme in different and exciting ways.