Past Exhibitions
Fine Art Galleries
Cop Shiva, On Being Gandhi, Image courtesy of the artist
On Being Gandhi: The Art and Politics of Seeing
1 April – 10 May 2019
Curators: Chaya Chandrasekhar and Janice Glowski
Featuring work by Shivaraju B.S., a photographer from Bangalore, India best known by his nickname “Cop Shiva,” this display includes images from his most celebrated series, On Being Gandhi. These photographs document the performances of a local village schoolteacher, Byagadehalli Basavaraju, as he routinely impersonates Mahatma Gandhi. This exhibition was curated by the Frank Museum of Art at Otterbein University and was presented on USD’s campus in conjunction with the 2019 ASIANetwork conference.
Dorothy Day (detail), c. 1955, ©2018 Vivian Cherry
Love is the Measure: Photos of Dorothy Day by Sylvia Cherry
12 October – 14 December 2018
Curator: Jeffrey Burns, University of San Diego
Dorothy Day has been called “an icon of American Catholicism.” Born to a newspaper family in Brooklyn, New York, Day converted to Catholicism as a young woman and shortly afterwards began publishing the Catholic Worker in 1933. Vivian Cherry, a street photographer known for her interest in social issues, chronicled Day’s work starting in 1955. Cherry returned in 1959 to photograph Day’s faith-inspired labor once again. Almost 50 of Cherry’s images from these extended photo-essays were brought together in the exhibition, Love is the Measure. This project was organized jointly by the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture and University Galleries.
Man Selling Vegetables, Matanzas, Cuba, 2012 ©Virginia Beahan
Between the Future and the Past: Photographs of Cuba by Virginia Beahan
16 March – 11 May 2018
Curators: Derrick Cartwright, University of San Diego and Virginia Beahan, Dartmouth College
Between the Future and the Past marked the first time that Virginia Beahan displayed an entirely new body of work, one rooted in her visits to the country since tentative steps toward normalization of US/Cuba relations were announced in 2014. Beahan’s focus shifted away from the island landscape to produce a series of portraits. These new photographs both recognized the emergent class of resilient, business-minded individuals and the framing of those entrepreneurial efforts within still-uncertain economic circumstances.
Del Mar Fair, California, 2007 ©Estate of Duncan McCosker
Duncan McCosker, 1944 – 2016: A Memorial Exhibition
17 March – 17 November 2017
Curator: Derrick Cartwright, University of San Diego
Duncan McCosker (1944-2016) was born in Glendale, CA and taught photography at the University of San Diego from the early 1980s until 2016. Beyond his status as a beloved teacher and respected colleague, McCosker's work stands as a tribute to dedicated looking at a wide variety of complex social situations. For decades, McCosker meticulously documented the Del Mar County Fair, the beaches of San Diego County, and the tourist zones of Paris. This memorial exhibition—organized, in part, by USD art history students—surveyed forty years of this talented photographer's work.
©Carlos LeGerrette
The Farmworkers’ Movement Through the Lens of Carlos LeGerrette
9 September - 18 November 2016
Curators: Jeffrey Burns and Alberto López Pulido, University of San Diego
This exhibition looked at the powerful photographic work that was produced by Carlos LeGerrette: the personal photographer for Cesar Chavez in the 1960s and 1970s. Over 50 images by LeGerrette demonstrated Chavez’s historic efforts to gain better working conditions and compensation for agricultural workers. This project was conceived by Alberto López Pulido, Professor of Ethnic Studies, in tandem with Jeffrey Mark Burns, Director of the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture at USD, with the close cooperation of LeGerrette.
Sebastião Salgado, Gold Mine, Serra Pelada, State of Pará, Brazil, 1986, gelatin silver print ©Sebastião Salgado/Amazonas images
I Witness: Documentary and Street Photography from USD’s Collection
February 26 – May 13 2016
Curators: Katelyn Allen, '18 and Derrick Cartwright, University of San Diego
This exhibition presented the University’s growing collection of images of social justice documentary and street photography practices. Over 20 works spanning historical concerns from the Great Depression and Civil Rights eras to the present day were displayed, along with a select group of works by then current USD students.
Fine Art Galleries, KIPJ
Selma, 1965: Bruce Davidson and the Photography of Civil Rights
6 March – 24 May 2015
Curator: Derrick R. Cartwright, University of San Diego
This exhibition brought together almost 50 vintage photographs that told the story of the marches for civil rights in Selma, Alabama. Bruce Davidson traveled to Alabama as a young photojournalist to document the circumstances surrounding discriminatory voting rights practiced against African Americans. Davidson's powerful images, along with several other photographers' works, record the efforts of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and thousands of others as they led a non-violent protest from Selma to Montgomery in March of 1965.
Vanessa Vick, Home, 1998 ©Vanessa Vick
Rwanda, 1994-2014: Seven Photographers
25 April – 6 June 2014
Curators: Derrick R. Cartwright and Alexandra Floro, '14, University of San Diego
Rwanda, 1994-2014 brought together more than two dozen works by leading photographers who were in Rwanda at the time of the genocide or who visited the nation since. Powerful images in black and white by Fazal Sheikh and Robert Lyons suggested insights into a broad spectrum of concerns from the 1990s: from representations of human cruelty, to images attesting to individuals’ determination to survive amidst scarcity. Work by photographers who came to Rwanda in the two decades since 1994 formed another critical aspect of this project by providing a nuanced view of changes still taking place there.
Shadow Lives: Photography by Jon Lowenstein
15 March – 26 May 2013
Never Again: Photography Exhibit by Boniface Mwangi
30 October 2012 – 15 February 2013
Architects of Peace
30 January – 30 April 2012
Cut to Form: Idiosyncrasies of the Woodcut Printmaking Technique
22 March – 6 May 2011