Visual

Artworks

Untitled by Gabrielle Abreu

Ayoon Al-Layl

by Iya Wakil

  • Ayoon Al-Layl, meaning “The Eyes of the Night” in Arabic, is a piece showcasing the beauty in a duality of the American and Iraqi identity. This multi-media piece contains intricate patterns, evil eye amulets, and bold shades of blue, representing both the vibrant culture and detail-oriented nature of the Iraqi identity. The woman in the front wears Native American attire as the woman in the back wears more Iraqi-centered attire, representing the dichotomies merged through the painting between the roots of each of these lands harmonizing. I never truly felt like I have belonged to one singular aspect of my identity by feeling as though I am not “Iraqi” enough for my family or “American” enough for my peers. However, I have learned to embrace the core of both of my identities and found ways to bridge my love for both of my identities through the art that I create. This piece relates to “Borderlands” as it showcases that while those who share more than one identity may never one hundred percent belong to one of those identities, they can proudly represent and coexist with the cultural elements that make them who they are. 

  • Iya Wakil is a Barnard student majoring in Economics.

12152019

by Jen Pinargote

  • 12152019 is a painting of a memory I had of my first visit to Ecuador. It reflects the theme of Borderlands through its symbolic use of visual elements that intersect identity, geography, and liminal spaces. The layered horizontal lines in the artwork evoke the concept of barriers, both physical and metaphorical, suggesting borders that divide and yet connect. The juxtaposition of bright, colorful motifs alongside the natural landscape and architectural elements mirrors the cultural, emotional, and political overlaps described by Gloria Anzaldúa.

    The painting aims to explore how identities and spaces are fragmented yet interconnected, reflecting the malleability of borders and the potential for transformation. The central motifs represent cultural symbols or personal connections that persist despite the division created by borders, resonating with Anzaldúa’s idea of existing “sin fronteras”. Moreover, the composition visually embodies the fluidity and complexity of hybrid identities, transcending rigid boundaries of nation, ethnicity, and selfhood.

    By presenting a visual narrative that invites the viewer to question where one layer ends and another begins, my painting engages directly with the interdisciplinary and transgressive ethos of the Borderlands theme.

  • Jen’s paintings examines the relationship between memory, place, and identity, focusing on the contrasts between the visible and the hidden. As a first-generation Ecuadorian-American, she navigates through fragmented histories—personal, cultural, and political. Through complex, layered compositions, she explores how these fractures influence our sense of belonging and identity.

    Using vibrant, fluorescent underpainting as a base, she craft spaces that shift between the familiar and the disorienting. Recurring motifs like blinds serve as visual symbols of liminality—acting as barriers and bridges between interior and exterior realms. These elements weave a larger narrative, inviting viewers to explore the tension between confinement and freedom, absence and presence.

    Her artistic approach is rooted in storytelling, shaped by the challenges of migration and displacement. The figures in her paintings often appear fragmented or obscured, reflecting the delicate and enduring nature of memory and identity. Collage-like components, such as painted strips and layered forms, emulate the process of reconstructing fragmented or erased histories.

    At its essence, Jen’s work investigates how we remember and reimagine. It is a space where personal and collective stories intersect, where the political becomes intimate, and where viewers are encouraged to question their own perceptions. Her aim is to produce paintings that are dynamic rather than static—portals into stories that are continuously evolving.

Navel-Gazing

by Nico Dao

  • “Navel-Gazing” is in many ways a self portrait to try to visualize the entangled, growing mess that is a soul. The question of the self and the steps it has taken to get here often seems so impossible to answer that even considering the question is self-indulgent. The title not only recognizes this self-indulgence, but also draws the audience’s attention to the single recognizable eye peeking out of the mess. This, along with the plural pronoun “we” seeks to invite the audience into contemplating the seemingly “unproductive” question: who have we become?

    This piece primarily relates to “Borderlands”’ theme of entanglement, identity in flux, and transformation, or becoming. 

  • Nico Dao is a Chinese American sophomore originally from Honolulu, Hawaii. In their free time, they enjoy drawing, dancing, and writing fiction and poetry.

Queer Harlem: Excerpts

by Madelyn Elizondo

  • This spread is a selection from the zine ‘Imagining Queer Harlem,’ a series in which I collaged photographs I took with those found in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture’s photographic archive. The pieces place multiple temporalities in dialogue, foregrounding archival findings against the backdrop of contemporary Harlem. Despite the neighborhood’s deep queer history, the only photograph I could find of a historical queer site was a parking lot paved over what once was the manor home to the Renaissance’s ‘litterati’. What are the consequences of an archival gap defined by a single image of destruction? And how might we work toward filling that gap despite the inherent impossibility of such a task? This project represents an attempt to imagine a visual archive that guides viewers through now-vanished spaces that first made public queer life possible in New York City. The words on the right are excerpted from a 1939 memo describing the Hamilton Lodge Ball with racist, homophobic contempt; in my presentation, I’ve rearranged the phrases to remember the first drag ball with care and admiration. 

  • None at the moment

A Beautiful Thought

by Ale

  • In "A Beautiful Thought" I explore the radical capabilities of kissing a racist. The duplicated image is a scene in an episode of the 70s classic, All in the Family, titled “Sammy’s Visit”. In it, Archie Bunker, the blatantly bigoted protagonist, gets a surprise from his favorite artist Sammy Davis Jr. The kiss that wrecked a thousand ships does not compare to seeing a racist short-circuit at the tender love of a black man. I am reminded of my own situational comedy: growing up Latinx and queer in rural Georgia. The racists I kissed were not so racist while our lips interlocked. I had so much love to give that I truly believed I could fix them, even before I knew exactly what I had to fix. These seemingly pure and naive interactions represent to me a different way to navigate differences. Love and intimacy as the way to break societal barriers and reach mutual understanding, as silly and unattainable as that sounds. My adolescent experiments have always led me to believe that love is the way to healing, that maybe all ignorance and hate need is a little kiss on the cheek.  

    I used paper and scotch tape for this photo collage. The tape is meant to represent the images coming to life and expressing themselves each differently, as tape is something we use to inscribe meaning onto something (labeling a box, anything with tape). Each individual piece is meant to be one of the million interpretations embedded in the image. The larger message created by the tape is meant to be a call to action expressed by the image itself. It is meant to interrogate the purpose of such a scene. The role humor and intimacy have in tackling systemic issues like racism, apathy and bigotry. My aesthetic practice here is to replicate the same image the same way the status quo replicates the same "image" by reiterating the same tropes and messaging through mainstream art and media; an art meant to naturalize our lives conditions rather than promote critical thought. My work is an intervention to this phenomenon as it calls to question the purpose of replicating the same image. The meaning is embedded in repetition.

  • Ale is CC '26 studying Creative Writing and Ethnicity & Race Studies. He was born in Barranquilla, Colombia and grew up in the state of Georgia, considering both his home. He enjoys reading and writing poetry. His love for literature and poetics began as early as he can remember with Juan Luis Guerra or a good vallenato always playing at his grandfather’s house. Visual art is a new medium in which they can explore storytelling and social criticism. Music, poetry and art have always been one of his love languages and a way to connect with his family and friends, especially his mother. He has been published in The Columbia Review and Roots.

Untitled

by Gabrielle Abreu

  • Upon a platform sits a human figure made of wood that moves between three walls. Each wall depicts various aspects of the Anglo made ethnicity that is Latinidad. With the mirrors in the center of each wall the viewer is able to see themselves within the limits and layers of that wall.

    1 [center wall]  

    In the center is a 15th century processional crucifix with Mexican styled sun mosaics over top. On each side of the crucifix stands two Idols, Tonantzin and La Virgen De Guadalupe. This idea was inspired by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez’s poem “I am Joaquin.” In which the Poet Speaker expresses their mestizaje. Likening themselves to both the Conqueror and Conquered while recounting Mexican historical events and mythology. La Virgen is said to be modeled after the Aztec goddess Tonantzin, hence, the diagonal fashion in  the effect of a scale.

    2 [right]

    In the center is the front page of the Treaty de Guadalupe Hidalgo taken from the United States’ National Archives. I chose this image because it is with this treaty that the modern day Latin-American identity comes from. On the borders of the wall, one will find images of the Spanish racial hierarchy known as the Casta System.

    3[left]

    My last wall was inspired by Judy Baca’s mural map, The Great Wall of Los Angeles. The golden background is meant to represent both the treasures housed and stolen from Mexico.Which I have paired with a found poem, composed class readings. Including Gloria Andaluzia’s “This Bridge called my back”, Jose Marti’s “Nuestra America”, and Leo Chavez’s “The Latino Threat Narrative” at the top is an Aztec Temple over which I have aligned my poem. I did this in order to represent the mythical Aztec homeland of Aztlan. From which it is said the Aztec people migrated to modern day Mexico City which is why the mirror is placed at the top of the pyramid rather than square in the center.

  • Gabrielle is a first generation Dominican- American from Queens, NY who is completing their second BA in Race and Ethnicity Studies, before going on to their Doctorate. Where they will focus on curatorship and research with a specialization in the Hispanic Caribbean's Queer and Indigenous groups. This piece is the first in what is quickly becoming a series of exhibition pieces centered around themes of reconciliation, and identity, in which Gabrielle has been exploring the ways legislation, colonialism and Otherness have shaped her personhood while holding space for what could have been.

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido 

by Madelyn Elizondo

  • I took these images at a rally against fascism in Washington Square Park on January 20, 2025. The rally was held by the Party for Socialism and Liberation and was broadly against Trump’s fascist agenda; many attendants held signs critiquing billionaire buyouts, mass deportation, and the defunding of education.

  • Madelyn is a a street and documentary photographer working primarily in 35mm film. Their work focuses on creating counter-narratives by capturing and preserving protest. She’s interested in depicting community and how people interact with their environment, whether through collective acts of resistance, moments of solidarity, or quiet meditations on the mundane.

Safe

by Eva Vu-Stern

  • My graphic novel Safe explores how a civil war and borders set inside a country that used to be one impacted the lives of my family members and forced them to flee their home. My grandmother and her family are still impacted by their escape to this day, and the physical, emotional, and cultural borders between the United States and Vietnam have impacted how my family views where we feel at home. In Homing Pigeons, I explore my own relationship with what and where home is. Growing up in Portland, OR, between my Vietnamese mom’s household and Jewish dad’s household has forced me to realize that there are cultural and physical borders between the places I call home. Now, in New York City where these cultural borders are supposed to be less pronounced, it still doesn’t quite feel like home. The pigeons, likely nesting in an alcove overlooking Broadway, bring attention to my search for home. Like homing pigeons, I search for home even when far away, even across physical and cultural borders.

  • Eva Vu-Stern creates art as a form of storytelling to explore growing up as a Jewish Vietnamese-American girl in the context of her cultural background, search for home, and place in modern consumerism vs. environmentalism. Eva loves digital painting/media, an ever-evolving art form where she uses multiple textured brushes and experiments with color and text by stacking numerous layers. She has also developed her traditional painting and drawing through gouache, watercolor, acrylics, pencil, and ink/calligraphy pen. Her process for graphic novels includes first drawing the illustrations, then adding dialogue/text, and finally finishing each panel, one at a time, without fully knowing beforehand where the story will end up.

    Eva’s short graphic novel Safe depicts her family’s refugee escape from Vietnam, and in Homing Pigeons, she communicates her search for home as someone who finds home in more than one place.

Untitled Prints

by Maya Shkolnik

  • My grandparents immigrated from Ukraine in the late 80s. They moved to NYC and now to New Jersey. I was raised with a faint understanding of my slavic heritage, but at their house it feels alive. They are my favorite subjects to photograph and have appeared in many a student magazine, especially Slavic ones. These photos are about honoring where I come from,-- Kyiv, Ukraine. 

    Film darkroom prints, shot in November 2024. Photos of my grandparents and the abundance of food they give me. My younger sibling Ozzie playing a classic board game with my grandfather Vadik. Vadik and Rita peek through the beautiful table setting. 

  • Maya Love is a NYC based photographer, videographer and performance artist. Her work investigates her own close relationships, most often capturing the remnants of her Ukrainian heritage.

A (Grand)Mother’s Touch

by Janira Gayle

  • Oil on Yarn and Fabric, 2024:

    A (Grand)Mother’s Touch connects to the theme of Borderlands by exploring the intersections of identity, memory, and heritage that exist within the in-between spaces of generational relationships. The piece reflects the borderland I navigate between my own individuality and the lasting influence of my mother and grandmother, as well as the cultural crossroads of my Caribbean roots and my present identity.

    The use of crocheted yarn, found fabric, and mixed media materials embodies this in-betweenness—blurring the boundaries between craft and fine art, abstraction and representation, past and present. The left panel, featuring abstracted parts of myself, symbolizes how my identity is both distinct and intertwined with the generations that came before me. The right panel, where my mother’s hand transitions from abstracted form to clarity, represents how familial love and care transform and shape us over time, crossing physical and emotional borders.

    Details like tassels, gold chains, and floral motifs further highlight the layered nature of borderlands, blending cultural richness with personal memory. This work is a meditation on how love, labor, and heritage thread through these liminal spaces, binding generations together while allowing for individuality and growth within them.

    Fort Greene University,

    Oil on Canvas, 2024:

    My piece relates to the theme of Borderlands by exploring the physical, emotional, and cultural tensions I navigate between two distinct spaces: Fort Greene, the neighborhood where I grew up, and Columbia University, where I study. These places represent more than just geographic locations—they embody contrasting communities, histories, and energies that bisect my sense of self. In this painting, I aim to visualize the metaphorical borderland I inhabit as I move between these two worlds, carrying the memories and imprints of both.

    Gloria Anzaldúa’s idea of the Borderlands as a space of overlap and negotiation resonates deeply with my experience. The landmarks featured in my work—the BQE underpass, the Fort Greene Tower, and St. Paul’s Chapel—stand as symbols of these two spaces and the contrasts they represent. Yet, by placing them side by side, I seek to collapse their physical boundaries and interrogate how these contrasting identities coexist within me.

    The act of creating this piece became a meditation on the in-betweenness of my life: the dissonance of navigating privilege and struggle, tradition and reinvention, and the deep emotional push and pull between belonging and alienation. My painting reflects how the Borderlands are not just places where two worlds meet, but dynamic spaces of transformation, forcing us to reconcile who we were with who we are becoming.

  • Janira is a 21-year-old artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Currently a senior at Columbia University, she bridges the worlds of computer science and visual arts, weaving technology and creative expression into her practice. Her work explores themes of dissonance, the fragility of relationships, and the complexities of self-discovery, inviting viewers to navigate moments of tension, loss, and renewal.

    Though her preferred medium is oil paint, Janira is in a dynamic state of artistic exploration. She experiments with unconventional materials and surfaces, challenging traditional boundaries of art-making. By integrating unexpected textures and forms into her work, she fosters a sense of curiosity and reinvention that reflects her own personal and artistic journey.

    Rooted in introspection and connection, Janira’s art invites audiences to reflect on the moments that shape their identities and relationships.