Curator and writer Stephanie Smith shapes collaborative, multi-disciplinary projects that are grounded in specific contexts and linked to global practices. Her curatorial interests extend from early and ongoing research on ecology, sustainability, place, and hospitality, to her current work on Chicagoland: Property, Speculation, and Socially Engaged Art for her PhD with the University of Amsterdam’s School of Heritage, Memory, and Material Culture.

Ömür Harmansah is currently serving as the Director of the School of Art & Art History. His current research focuses on the history of landscapes in the Middle East and the politics of ecology, climate justice, place, and cultural heritage in the age of the Anthropocene. As an archaeologist and an architectural historian of ancient Western Asia (a.k.a. the Near East), Harmansah specializes in the art, architecture, and material culture of Anatolia, Syria, and Mesopotamia during the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Sarah Whyte is an interdisciplinary artist whose work questions her identity as a transracial, transnational, Chinese American, woman, adoptee. She was born in China and lived in an orphanage at the beginning of her formative years. Sarah was then adopted and brought to the United States where she grew up in Virginia and Texas before moving to Chicago for school. She holds a BFA in Studio Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and has presented in venues such as Weinberg Newton Gallery, Hyde Park Art Center, and Evanston Art Center.

Artist, educator, museum worker from Sacramento, CA

I make figure drawings with vine or willow charcoal on paper, which I then bathe in water to decay lines and create atmosphere. These images usually start with a studio self-portrait and expand to include imaginary figures and landscapes.

I am investigating queer concerns of safe space, body acceptance, aging, and the policing of desire. I am also interested in what moves children to fantasize about adulthood and adults to nostalgize childhood. I hope to foster humor and connection in an anxious world.

Undergraduate Academic Advisor for the School of Art & Art History

María Eugenia López-Garcia is an Assistant Professor in the Museum and Exhibition Studies program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Previously, she was a 2020-2022 Bridge to the Faculty Postdoctoral Scholar at UIC, and she held a 2019-2020 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Latina/o Studies at UIUC.

Emmanuel Ramos-Barajas is a scholar, educator, and research-based image maker who investigates the possession and consumption of land in US and Mexican art, cinema and visual culture.

Leeann Ream has graduated with an MA in Museum and Exhibition Studies from the University of Illinois Chicago in 2023. Before attending the MUSE program at UIC, Leeann earned a BFA in Studio Arts from Bowling Green State University, where her thesis exhibition focused on drawing the figure from observation.