Located within The Collection Galleries the Incubator Gallery is often used for student- and faculty-curated exhibitions. Exhibitions in this 600-square-foot gallery are organized in collaboration with staff in the Nasher’s Academic Initiatives and Curatorial Departments and are installed for approximately three months at a time. Applications are accepted and evaluated on a rolling basis and should include 1) a brief written proposal including the exhibition’s objectives, main themes, and connection to faculty’s research and/or teaching, 2) a checklist of desired artworks, and 3) a budget including potential outside funding sources. We prioritize proposals that utilize the collection of the Nasher Museum, that can serve as excellent teaching opportunities, and that we receive two years or more before the intended opening date. Please keep in mind that scheduling is dependent on the availability of the gallery.

Please contact Julia K. McHugh, Ph.D., Trent A. Carmichael Curator of Academic Initiatives, at julia.mchugh@duke.edu to discuss an idea for an exhibition or to submit an application.

Hung Liu: Living Memory, on view through June 16, 2024.

“I paint from historical photographs of people; the majority of them had no name, no bio, no story left. Nothing. I feel they are kind of lost souls, spirit-ghosts. My painting is a memorial site for them.” —Artist Hung Liu

Chinese-born American artist Hung Liu (Born in Changchun, China, 1948 – 2021) portrayed individuals who risked being forgotten in death as in life. As a child, Liu lived under the regime of Mao Zedong, who led the Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976), a turbulent period of political and social upheaval in the People’s Republic of China. It was during this time that Liu realized photography’s significance when she witnessed her mother burn cherished family photographs, or otherwise risk persecution for being “bourgeois,” or not working class.

As an adult, Liu immigrated to the United States, where she focused on the photographs of the Chinese people who came before her. By manipulating and recontextualizing found images by dripping, splattering, and layering materials, Liu blurred the lines between representation and abstraction and probed photography’s role in shaping collective memory.

Hung Liu: Living Memory explores the artist’s ability to bridge past and present by manipulating the threads of visual memory. Her sensitive portraits illuminate what it means to be Chinese, to be American, and to be a woman. These testimonials make visible the faces of the forgotten. Liu’s portraits remind us that memory is not merely a repository of the past; it is a dynamic force that inflects the past, informs the present, and shapes our future, forging our sense of self while connecting us to the greater human consciousness.