A Nameless Familiar, the second of two University of Illinois at Chicago MFA Thesis Exhibitions features the work of Kylie Clark, Sarabeth Dunton, Isaac Gilmore, Ted Kim, javier jasso, and Nancy Sánchez Tamayo. The pieces included in this exhibition examine the myriad ways memory and nostalgia manifests within contemporary art practice and the here and now. Memory, more specifically the ways in which one remembers, whether rooted in factual experience or imagined, directly affects our perception of the present. Likewise, nostalgia, defined as a yearning for the past, performs an important role in our lives and is often tethered to the everyday. Through varied approaches aimed at challenging the entangled relationship between memory and nostalgia, the works presented in A Nameless Familiar encourage the viewer to confront their understanding of the function of memory as well as re-contextualize their comprehension of loss, death, and transformation.

Kylie Clark
Sarabeth Dunton
Isaac Gilmore
Ted Kim
javier jasso
Nancy Sánchez Tamayo