This week, Maria speaks to Jordan and the listeners about the practice of Alia Ali, a Yemeni-Bosnian-US artist who has spent her life traveling all over the world. As a result of her travels, Ali is vehemently committed to reflecting themes of interconnectedness in her work, without the barriers of language or cultural exclusivity limiting the breadth of her practice. Maria also references the writing of her friend from UChicago, Jad Dahshan, who wrote their MA thesis using Ali’s FLOW Series as a case study.

This week, Maria shares her research with Jordan and the listeners about the life and practice of Baya, an Algerian artist who rose to fame in France in the 1940s when she was only 16 years old. Her story has historically been overshadowed by artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, who are rumored to have taken inspiration from her art. This brings up several questions — namely how appropriate this inspiration is given their hyper-sexualized and orientalist nature.

In this episode, Jordan details the story of applying for funding to travel, her research trip over the summer to Denmark, as well as her preliminary thoughts on Per Kirkeby's art and her thesis. 

Welcome back to Major Musings! After a year-long hiatus during their year of graduate school, Maria and Jordan are back for season 2. In this episode, they discuss their experiences in their respective MA programs and talk about the future, as well. 

In the final episode of Season 1, Jordan talks with Maria about the Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao. Founded in 2004, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio has been recognized globally as a leading architectural firm working in sustainable architecture and affordable housing. Taking inspiration from both the natural environment and culture, Bilbao's designs are innovative and functional while also being thoughtfully aesthetic and meaningful. 

This episode features a discussion about the life and work of Hanaa Malallah, an Iraqi artist and educator living in London. Maria speaks to Jordan and the listeners about Malallah’s practice with respect to her deep interest in ancient Mesopotamian culture and how it has influenced even her artist’s signature. Moreover, Malallah provokes her audience into having a more well-rounded and global understanding of the complexities of war and violence with respect to her own experiences both in Iraq and abroad.

In this episode, Jordan talks about the Danish artist Rune Bosse with Maria and the listeners. Bosse is a scientistic artist who uses natural materials and organic matter to question the natural processes of the universe, which most often result in impressive large-scale installations and site-specific works.

In this episode, Maria discusses the life and career of Palestinian British artist, Mona Hatoum, with Jordan and the listeners. Staunchly opposing the restrictive boundaries of an identity many have assumed for her, Hatoum explores the complexities of gender and inequality not just in the Middle East, but globally. Through a practice of multimedia, namely film and sculpture, the artist tackles issues that are often interchangeable with respect to Western and Middle Eastern cultures -- and, in the rare instance, are deeply personal and autobiographical. 

This episode features a discussion of Maya Lin's wide-ranging practice. Jordan highlights several of Lin's environmental art installations, architecture, and memory works for Maria and the listeners. Since winning the design competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Lin's practice has often dealt with themes of environmental activism, remembrance, and social justice.  

In this episode, Maria speaks to Jordan and the listeners about Palestinian artist, Emily Jacir, whose complex work is as highly political as it is deeply personal. Through the use of multimedia, with a focus on photography, film, and performance, Jacir investigates questions of displacement and identity, offering a platform to those whose voices have been historically silenced.

This week, Jordan talks about Agnes Denes with Maria and the listeners. Through a number of mediums, especially large-scale, site-specific works, Denes works with the land and other disciplines like math and philosophy to ponder the future of the Earth and of humanity.

In this episode, Maria talks to Jordan about the whirlwind career of Huguette Caland, a Lebanese artist who spent her entire life breaking away from certain expectations placed on her as a result of being born into an infamous family. Her work explores themes of eroticism, sexuality, and women's liberation, all of which blossomed upon her move to and eventual residency in Paris. 

In this episode, Jordan presents the work of Peruvian artist Elena Damiani to Maria and the listeners. Working at the intersection of fine arts and scientific disciplines such as geology and cartography, Damiani tackles questions of how we acquire knowledge, understand time and history, and how materials may shine a light on previously hidden or concealed perceptions of our world. Maria and Jordan also give an update about their graduate school decisions!

This week, Maria talks to Jordan and the listeners about the life and work of Ghada Amer, an Egyptian-born contemporary artist who now resides in New York. Through an in-depth conversation about the complexities of her identity as an artist of the diaspora, in addition to the toxic patriarchal environment she faced in graduate school, find out more about what makes Amer who she is today, and why she so passionately stands by referring to her embroidery as painting. 

In this episode, Jordan introduces Maria and the listeners to the pioneering experimental filmmaker Maya Deren. Working primarily in the 1940s and 50s, Deren's short films have been classified as "surrealist" and "feminist" by critics and scholars throughout the 20th century. But as Jordan and Maria discover, there's more to Deren and her films than just labels. 

This week, Maria talks to Jordan and the listeners about the art and activism of Bahia Shehab, an Egyptian-based artist, educator, historian, and creative director. The conversation focuses primarily on Shehab’s well-known “A thousand times no” series in relation to the Egyptian revolution of 2011, in addition to a more broad dialogue surrounding the significance of public art in political movements.

In this episode, Jordan presents the artist-filmmaker Malena Szlam to Maria and the listeners. The film from 2018 "Altiplano" is the main focus of the conversation along with the themes explored and techniques employed by Szlam. 

This week, Maria introduces Jordan and the listeners to the Lebanese-American photographer, Rania Matar, who graciously joined them in the episode to share more about her life and career. The conversation highlights Matar’s unique approach across several bodies of work (including her most recent project of photographing people in isolation during COVID), all of which showcase the commitment to the duality of her cultural identity, the stages of life in young girls and women, and the intimate relationship between artist and subject.

In this episode, Jordan gives an overview of the works of Land Artist Robert Smithson to Maria and the listeners. Smithson was one of the pioneering figures of the Land Art movement of the late 1960s, and he is well-known for his theory of Nonsites and his earthwork Spiral Jetty.