MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media Thesis Screening 2026 | Sep 8, 2026; 6:00 – 8:00pm | Occasions and Exhibitions | College of Visible Arts

The fourteen college students within the 2026 class of the MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media program deploy quite a lot of mediums and strategies however are unified of their dedication to wanting carefully at the true world—veering away from fictional situations towards analysis and documentary practices. Many tasks deal with archives and forms: a number of artists use paperwork as both a conceptual gambit or a literal element of their works, complementing others who acceptable photographs and tales from household, scientific, or political histories. This broad emphasis on programs of information intersects with a recurring curiosity in establishments and applied sciences that govern how we navigate our bodily and societal environments. Whether by way of bodily mark-making, humor, or dreamlike situations, numerous artists disrupt and critique these conventions in deeply private methods. This sense of intimacy extends into a number of tasks that inform true tales of people that persist in merely dwelling their lives amidst a variety of inauspicious conditions.

Elephant within the Room | Malik Clement

Malik Clement’s Elephant within the Room is a brief movie of comedic vignettes that spotlight the complicated social interactions folks of coloration bear in artistic fields. Clement, the movie’s sole actor, shapeshifts throughout every part of the piece, taking up completely different demeanors, accents, and modes of self-presentation, at instances even breaking into a number of figures who fade out and in of visibility. From a canned standup routine to an in- depth historical past of codeswitching, his monologues repeatedly break the fourth wall, implicating the viewers in an ongoing strategy of defining the artist’s place earlier than the digital camera.

Wait and See | Tatiana Kireicheva

Tatiana Kireicheva’s Wait and See is a 50-minute essay movie that unpacks modern Russian tradition by way of a semi-fictionalized narrative spanning three generations. Guided by a voiceover from an unseen protagonist, the movie brings collectively documentary interviews and observational footage documenting slices of on a regular basis life in Russia and the United States. Together these supplies weave a dreamlike portrait of society beneath an authoritarian regime, the place historical past is repurposed and fact distorted so as to normalize a political agenda. By making these operations seen inside the body of a private story, Kireicheva’s movie provides a compelling name for shared resistance.

Introduction and thesis descriptions written by Nat Troutman.