American visual artist Julie Mehretu is set to present her mid-career survey at the Whitney Museum, exhibiting over seventy pieces spanning from 1996 to the present.

The Ethiopian-born artist is known for her multi-layered paintings of abstracted landscapes on a large scale. Her work covers a breadth of artistic practices, medium and genre explorations.

This mid-career survey as the museum calls it, will be the first-ever comprehensive survey of Mehrehtu’s career, curated by Christine Y. Kim of LACMA, with Whitney’s own assistant curator, Rujeko Hockley. Those who find themselves perusing through the installation will notice that Mehretu’s paintings are an abstract visual education of diverse cultural references, ranging from European history paintings to symbolic depictions of African liberation movements.

“At its core, her art is invested in our lived experiences, examining how forces such as migration, capitalism, and climate change impact human populations—and possibilities. We look forward to bringing her brilliant explorations to Whitney audiences,” said Hockley. This most recent exhibition is a culmination of the artist’s past and present works, all of which are reflective of the social narratives at the time of the piece’s inception. This exhibition will take viewers through a mindful journey of how realities of the past and present can shape human consciousness.

The Julie Mehretu exhibition is set to open to the public from March 25 through August 8, 2021.

Posted by:Staff