(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)February 3, 2020

MAHWAH, N.J. –  Mawewi: A Place Where Paths Meet, a multimedia installation by artist Camille Hoffman exploring Indigenous transoceanic histories, political symbolism and land stewardship, opens on Wednesday, February 19 in the Kresge Gallery of the Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts. There will be an opening reception from 5-7 p.m. with an artist’s talk at 6 p.m.  The exhibition continues on view through April 10.

PLEASE NOTE: THE MARCH 29 FILM AND DISCUSSION EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

Hoffman collaborated with her friend Ramapo College student Two Clouds of the Ramapough Lenape Nation for this unique project which partly references land in the Mahwah area, including the Ramapo College site. The immersive exhibition features a multimedia-collaged mural honoring Mahwah’s Sweetwater Prayer Camp including recent protest images surrounding the site’s preservation as a cultural, spiritual, and environmental center for the Ramapough people. Working with the New York state seal in one part of the installation, she subverts the colonial symbols pertaining to water and commerce, adding references to her own Filipinx heritage and Indigenous sovereignty. Additionally, artworks from various Ramapo College’s permanent collections highlighting nautical subject matter are on view, ranging from sculpture by Haitian artist Nacius Joseph to paintings by Marcial Ayala of Mexico.

The artist provides the following statement about the exhibition:

“Since its first iteration at the Queens Museum Watershed Gallery, this conversation around the sacredness of land and water continues to deepen.  Through my exploration of installation and co-curation with Two Clouds of historic pieces from the College’s permanent collection, this work functions as a thread of learning, exchange and overlap between personal and collective ancestral communities and lands.”

Camille Hoffman (b. 1987, Chicago) earned an MFA from Yale University (2015), and a BFA from California College of the Arts (2009). She has exhibited her work throughout the United States and in Europe in venues, including the Queens Museum (2018); Children’s Museum of Manhattan (2018); Museum of Arts and Design, New York (2018); Lincoln Center, New York (2017); Times Square, New York (2017); Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut (2015); Nuit Blanche  arts festival, Paris, France (2015); and Espai Cultural Biblioteca Azorin, Valencia, Spain (2008). Hoffman also has worked for more than a decade as an arts educator and community organizer in Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, New Haven, Brooklyn and Queens. She currently lives and works in New York City and teaches at Cooper Union and Bennington College.

This project at Ramapo is funded in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Kresge Gallery is located in the Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts.  Gallery hours are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 1-5 p.m., and Wednesday from 1-7 p.m.  There will be additional special gallery hours on Sunday, March 29 from 1-5 p.m. Galleries are closed for major holidays and for Spring Break the week of March 16.

For more information, contact Gallery Director Sydney Jenkins at 201-684-7147.

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About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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