“Panorama: Cantos Unfolding” by Xiaoze Xie

August 29–December 9, 2023

How do we look at this era of the COVID-19 global pandemic?

Artist Xiaoze Xie offers a panoramic view of the visual information absorbed both consciously and subconsciously for the past three years. From masked faces and empty beds to complicated public figures and political protests, the imagery unfolding throughout the gallery can be received as you see fit, all at once an intricate record, a lyrical library, and an ongoing, epic poem for our time. As an artist, scholar, poet and educator, Xie combines allusions to historical works of art and literature with his own compelling inventions, recognizing the heights and depths of memory, grief and resilience to form a body of work that is both timely and timeless.

Visitors are invited to view the work within this Sheehan space from multiple angles and distances so that they might feel permission to locate their particular stories along the stratum of shared experience. Among Xie’s pandemic pieces are his references and process materials used to inform the resulting monumental meditations. This installation also includes specific selections from the artist’s “Fragmentary Views” series, which offers reflections on the stacks and scrolls of daily information and then prompts the viewer to contemplate how we navigate through it all.

Through these thoughtful works, Xie holds up a clarifying lens and creates space to continue to process the COVID-19 pandemic and evolve beyond it.