Screens and Scenes at the 49th MFA Show at BAMPFA

Artist talks at the opening of the 49th MFA show at BAMPFA, 2019.

For the forty-ninth year, BAMPFA and the University of California, Berkeley Department of Art Practice have collaborated to present an exhibition of works by Berkeley Master of Fine Arts graduates. This year’s exhibition includes the exceptional work of Tia Cabral aka Spellling, Ricki Dwyer, Heesoo Kwon, Gabriella Willenz, and Connie Zheng.

Tia Cabral, better known as Spellling, presents music videos created with Catalina Xavlena for her new album Mazy Fly. Tia Cabral’s second album retains the great mysticism of her songwriting. The unsettling synth textures and soundscapes fly around her soulful voice, making something beautiful out of sheer terror.

Ricki Dwyer developed new methods of fusing textiles and clay to create magical, surreal ceramic objects presiding over a world of inverted scales.

Heesoo Kwon connected with a family genie to revisit key moments in her family history and recast them in a perspective that transcends the limitations of patriarchy and bigotry.

Heesoo Kwon [M.F.A 2019] Still from “Studio” video, 2019

Gabriella Willenz installed a surreal survivalist tent structure to harbor a dramatic video examining how the private and the political are fused in everyday family rituals.

Connie Zheng created a myth involving a new class of sentient seeds, which hold the promise for surviving ecological disasters, but only if people can collaborate and dialog with them.

The 49th Annual University of California, Berkeley Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition is organized by Curatorial Assistant Matthew Coleman. The annual MFA exhibition is made possible by the Barbara Berelson Wiltsek Endowment.