On Unsettling California: The Exhibit

On this special episode of The Dream Deferred, we take you through the Unsettling California exhibit showcased at the glass box gallery on campus at UC Santa Barbara. In this episode, we introduce you to the contributing artists, their pieces, and relationship to the layered landscape of California. The exhibition, co-curated by Mellon Sawyer seminar graduates, Dani Kwan and Samantha Harris, features works by contemporary California artists whose practices question the persistent presence of colonial ideologies, structures, and policies that have shaped migration, citizenship, inclusion and exclusion, as well as the racial and spatial formations of the State.

Special thanks to the Mellon Foundation’s Sawyer Seminars for supporting this podcast. 

Produced, edited, and sound designed by Molly McAnany.

Edited by Adam Burston.

Co-produced by Lisa Parks, France Winddance Twine, and Kim Yasuda.

All music in this episode courtesy of Soundstripe.

Cover art by Dani Kwan.

For more on the artists:

• Jessica Bellamy 
• Sarah Rosalena Brady
• Marisa de la Pena
• Mercedes Dorame
• Pilar Aguero-Esparza
• Margaret Laurena Kemp
• Silas Munro and Polymode Studio 
• Hillary Mushkin
• Kate Saubestre 
• Debra Scacco 
• Devon Tsuno 

For more on the exhibit:

• Photographs of the show
• Artwork statements 
• Exhibit flyers

Special thanks to the curatorial team:
Graduate Co-Curators: Dani Kwan, MFA Candidate, Department of Art & Samantha Harris, PhD Candidate, Graduate School of Education

Faculty Co-Advisors: Kim Yasuda, Professor, Department of Art & Lisa Parks, Distinguished Professor, Film and Media Studies

This podcast was funded by a 2021-22 Andrew Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar grant in support of “Race, Precarity and Privilege: Migration in a Global Context" at UC Santa Barbara. For more information on this interdisciplinary collaboration and Co- PIs see: https://raceandmigrationucsb.org.