Ms. Shahzia Sikander is a leading South Asian artist. She has brought new life and contemporary significance to traditional art forms by making full use of the latest digital technology in the world of miniature painting, which follows conventions dating back to the Mughal Empire. By metaphorically depicting the grave problems facing the world through contemporary forms, she has become a role model for female artists in South Asia and continues to pave the way for future younger generations to follow.

As a cautious world continues to reopen and a sense of normalcy begins to return to its art museums, a lively summer lineup of no-holds-barred exhibitions by and about queer artists is helping ensure that the imbalances exposed by the pandemic remain center stage, and that the urgency surrounding them isn’t lost. Highlighting themes such as activism, racism, ageism, ableism, innovation and intimacy, these shows help envision a future informed by past progress, but still mindful of present challenges and unafraid to keep evolving. 

If it seems like forever since you visited any of Chicago’s many museums and cultural arts attractions, there’s no time like the present to check out all that the area has to offer. And with COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lifted, you can do so — in person.

So here’s a look at some of the exhibits waiting to be discovered (or rediscovered) by you, your friends, your family. The museums listed have reopened unless otherwise indicated. Most require advance tickets, so check websites for more information.

One year ago on July 4th, the skin of New York City art lovers was crawling. Sheltering in place with museums and galleries shut down, the community’s ability to see great art in person had been taken away. It was one of Covid-19’s lesser abuses, but a loss none the less to those for whom the arts are a lifeline.  

One year later, the city’s museums and galleries are open, operating safely, welcoming visitors. Take advantage by channeling the art cravings of July 2020 into a full-on arts binge around New York this 4th.

Much Unseen is Also Here, an initiative of Toward Common Cause, brings together the works of two major artists who both consider the theater of the landscape, monumentality, cultural history, and representation.  

Probing monuments and identity, An-My Lê and Shahzia Sikander explore history’s embeddedness in our present. Lê’s Silent General (2015 - ongoing) presents large-scale views of places and people in the contemporary American landscape, while Sikander’s uses sculpture, drawings, and animation to examine representations of intersectional femininity that is prompted by questions of who monuments historically depict.  

The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island, has appointed six new trustees: contemporary artist, designer, and activist Shepard Fairey; Gabrielle Bullock, a principal at the Los Angeles–based firm Perkins & Will and the second African American woman to graduate from the school’s architecture program; the Pakistani-born printer and printmaker Shahzia Sikander; Norman Chan, the founder and managing director of the architectural and interior design firm BTR Workshop Limited in Hong Kong; Michael Rock, the cofounder of the New York City design consultancy 2x4; and William Schweizer III, the vice chairman of clinical affairs at NYU Langone Health’s department of obstetrics and gynecology in New York City.

Shepard Fairey, Gabrielle Bullock, Shahzia Sikander, Norman Chan, Michael Rock and William Schweizer to serve as Term Trustees; Donald Choi, Deborah Mankiw named Ex Officio Trustees

PROVIDENCE, RI, - The Board of Trustees at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is proud to announce the election of Shepard Fairey, Gabrielle Bullock, Shahzia Sikander, Norman Chan, Michael Rock and William Schweizer as its newest term trustees. Each will serve a three-year term through May 2022.

“The Board is thrilled to welcome to RISD this new group of esteemed trustees, which includes several extraordinary alumni,” said RISD Board Chair Michael Spalter . “Our newest members embody RISD’s values and they have each made indelible marks on society. We look forward to the ways they will help guide our illustrious institution alongside our visionary President Rosanne Somerson, and we thank them for taking on this important commitment in service to RISD.”