Palmer Museum opens new year with collaborative exhibitions asking big questions

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — This month, the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State opened two special exhibitions that shed light on important themes with the help of collaborative curators and partners from across campus. "The Global Majority" and "Profiles of Vulnerability and Protection," both on view now, highlight marginalized voices while asking visitors to ponder topics on representation and identity.

“Exhibitions like 'The Global Majority' and 'Profiles of Vulnerability and Protection' embody our mission to provide our diverse community with special exhibitions that encourage critical thinking, inspire curiosity, and foster inclusion and respect for all visitors,” said Joyce Robinson, interim director at the Palmer Museum of Art. “The new year at the new Palmer Museum is a wonderful chance to reflect on that and to continue our productive, thought-provoking collaborations with faculty and students,” she said.

"The Global Majority" opened on Jan. 11 in the Greider Family Gallery and brings together a selection of photographs and contemporary works on paper to explore representation and the role it plays in fostering a sense of belonging, especially among communities that have been historically disempowered and excluded from museums, asking visitors to think about what it means to feel seen, to be pictured, or to have power over your own image.

To put example into action, the exhibition was planned as a collaborative project with Palmer graduate assistants, interns and educators, as well as students in Penn State’s School of Visual Arts Black Indigenous and People of Color (SoVA BIPOC) group. The exhibition asks viewers to contemplate what it means to feel seen, to be pictured, and to have power over your own image. It centers on diverse voices from the University community through written personal reflections and creative responses to objects on view in the exhibition. The creative artwork responses by SoVA BIPOC members will be featured in a pop-up exhibition during the semester’s first Art After Hours "New Year, New You" event on Thursday, Jan. 30.

“Through the works of art on display, the personal reflection texts as labels, and the creative responses by members of SoVA BIPOC, 'The Global Majority' reinforces the idea that art is for everyone,” said Keri Mongelluzzo, Educator for Academic Engagement and Access. “My hope is that it encourages all Penn Staters and community visitors to see themselves reflected in the museum and to feel like the Palmer is their museum and that they belong here,” she said.

The exhibition also invites student and community collaborators to “Picture Yourself at the Palmer” and celebrate representation by submitting a selfie or portrait to be included on a digital display monitor located in the gallery. Submissions can be made here or via a QR code accessible from the exhibition.

'The Global Majority' was organized by the Palmer Museum of Art and curated by Keri Mongelluzzo, educator for academic engagement and access, with graduate assistants Adrienne Krueger and Sofia Rodriguez; interns Sé Morrisson, Anna Muñoz Cruz and Hely Parmar; and the student and faculty members of SoVA BIPOC: Marissa Baez, Kumasi J. Barnett, Venus Bayat, Adriana Forsythe, Jaden Gonzalez, Sonia Lloyd, Aki Rapp and Ren Watkins. The exhibition closes on April 13. 

Across the galleries on the second level, another special exhibition examines ideas of identity. "Profiles of Vulnerability and Protection," which opened in the collaborative Barbara and Lee Maimon Teaching Gallery on January 18, considers how perceived vulnerabilities — shaped by gender, racial, economic, and other inequities — can become strengths that spark action and collective movement to change the course of injustice toward safe, peaceful and joyous living. 

“The premise of the exhibition — with its subthemes of vulnerable identities, vulnerable environments and vulnerable labor — is how vulnerability can open connections and be a form of resistance to oppression and social isolation,” said Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, who curated the exhibition. “Artists show us ways to protect against stigma and shame,” she said.

The exhibition features several works by feminist artist, activist, educator and writer Linda Stein, whose work has addressed issues of persecution and protection for six decades. Stein has partnered with Penn State art educators and scholars since 2015 to create a “curriculum team" whose aim is to use art to empower gender expression and address social justice issues such as oppression and bigotry. Stein’s collection of papers on art education were acquired by the University Libraries, and several of her visual works are now part of the museum’s permanent collection. 

Stein’s works are placed in conversation with other artists who examine themes of personal identity, including women, and in particular Black women, trans women and transfeminine people. QR codes on artwork labels in the gallery give visitors access to expanded information about the artists and virtual and interactive digital content.

"It was thrilling to curate, research, develop curricula, and write text for the exhibition and accompanying website with its interactive prompts and augmented reality features,” said Keifer-Boyd about the collaboration for the Teaching Gallery. She added that visiting the exhibition in person and seeing the works in dialogue with one another drove home for her the connections and impact of the show. 

"Profiles of Vulnerability and Protection" closes on April 20.

For more information about this spring’s special exhibitions at the Palmer Museum, visit the website.

Related Programs 

Art After Hours: "New Year, New You"

Thursday, Jan. 30, 5 to 8 p.m., Event Space, Galleries, Object Study Room 

Embrace the start of 2025 and rediscover yourself at the museum! Practice mindfulness while surrounded by art, exercise self-care through the process of artmaking, and explore representation and identity with a gallery conversation and pop-up exhibition by members of Penn State’s SoVA BIPOC. This program was created in partnership with the College of Health and Human Development. Light refreshments will be provided. The Palmer is open late on Thursdays thanks to generous support provided by Art Bridges Foundation's Access for All program.

Gallery Talk: "The Global Majority"

Thursday, Jan. 30, 6 p.m., Greider Family Gallery 

With students in SoVA BIPOC, Palmer graduate assistants and interns, and Keri Mongelluzzo, educator for academic engagement and access.

Gallery Talk: "Profiles of Vulnerability and Protection" — “Vulnerable Identities & Protection”

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 3 p.m., Barbara and Lee Maimon Teaching Gallery 

With Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, and graduate students in the AED 502 “Research and Education” class.

Gallery Talk: "The Global Majority"

Thursday, Feb. 20, 6 p.m., Greider Family Gallery 

With students in SoVA BIPOC, Palmer graduate assistants and interns, and Keri Mongelluzzo, educator for academic engagement and access.

College of Arts & Architecture Sustainability Council Roundtable on Vulnerable Environments & Protection: Transcultural Bioethic Narrative Art Curricula 

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 12 to 1:30 p.m., Borland Project Space  

Gallery Talk: Profiles of Vulnerability and Protection — “Vulnerable Labor & Protection”

Thursday, March 6, 4 p.m., Barbara and Lee Maimon Teaching Gallery 

With Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies.

Linda Stein Upstander Award Ceremony

Wednesday, March 26, 3 to 5 p.m.  

The awards ceremony includes a presentation by awardee Marissa Gutiérrez-Vicario at the Library’s Foster Auditorium and Penn State’s Special Collections pop-up exhibition “Vulnerable Identities & Protection” of Stein’s archives in Special Collections. Find more info at this link.

Artist Talk: Linda Stein — "Below the Eyes: Sexuality and Averting the Gaze"

Thursday, March 27, 4 p.m., Barbara and Lee Maimon Teaching Gallery 

Linda Stein is a feminist artist, activist, educator and writer. For six decades, her work has addressed issues of persecution and protection, focusing on oppression of the “other” through the lens of anti-bullying and social justice. 

Gallery Talk: Profiles of Vulnerability and Protection — “Vulnerable Environments & Protection”

Thursday, April 10, 4 p.m., Barbara and Lee Maimon Teaching Gallery 

With Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies.

About the Palmer Museum of Art

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State is the largest art museum collection between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and the most significant academic art museum in the state of Pennsylvania. A key element of Penn State’s land-grant mission of teaching, research and public service, the museum is a vital and accessible cultural resource for Penn State’s students, faculty and scholars, as well as for all visitors to and from the entire central Pennsylvania region. Through its world-class objects, programs and outreach, the free museum is a welcoming, inclusive and vibrant forum for authentic arts experiences and cultivates meaningful dialogue about today’s most potent ideas and pressing concerns. 
 
An expansive 21st-century teaching museum, the Palmer Museum of Art is a beacon for advancing the arts and humanities on Penn State’s University Park campus and throughout its diverse communities. The Palmer is dedicated to catalyzing groundbreaking research, scholarship and publications and providing impactful, object-based learning for Penn State and K-12 students. The Palmer’s rewarding and thought-provoking exhibitions and programs promote visitor participation, belonging and discovery. In January, the Palmer was voted one of 10 winners in the national USA Today 10Best contest for "Best New Museums of 2025."