About Us: The American Imaginary

_About Us: The American Imaginary_ spotlights three notions of "American." The exhibition is curated by the Terra Foundation Fellows (Christina Chan, Annette Parkins, and Carlos David Trujillo), who are members of QM's local community, appointed through a general open call. The three discrete collections of images on view in the exhibition emerged from each Fellow's lived experience, scholarly research, and collaboration. Through varied subject matter and across time, the images speak to family lore and nostalgia, contradiction, visibility, migration, fame, intimacy, conflict, and roots. The exhibition considers one's claim to the term "American," as well as the ways in which a recognition of "American-ness" appears in visual art: _what is American about American Art?_ Photographers born within and outside the borders of the United States are included in this presentation, nodding to the flow of people and culture that shapes America. The photographs date from the mid-nineteenth century to 1979, and are predominantly albumen and vintage silver gelatin prints. Even today, these photographs negotiate between the perception of the photographer and the shifting context of an image over time. This exhibition's compilation of perspectives, even as they remain incomplete, offers poetic and intimate interpretations in response to the guiding question. Over the course of eight months, the Fellows worked interdepartmentally and with external mentors cataloguing, researching, and writing about photographs in the Museum's collection; all while leading discussions with local stakeholders; and grappling with definitions of American Art. Looking together, the Fellows reflected upon the intangible expectations apparent in each selection, where the utility of the term pales in comparison to the potential of its unceasing redefinition.