MONTCLAIR, NJ.- The Montclair State University Galleries will open two new exhibitions on January 31: Caroline Garcia’s Dancing on Axes and Spears in the Segal Gallery and Case Studies 2: Justin Cloud – The Garden in the Kasser Theater lobby, on view through April 21, 2023, and July 31, 2023, respectively. The exhibitions are curated by Jesse Bandler Firestone, Curator and Exhibition Coordinator.

The second edition of Case Studies, an exhibition series in the Kasser Theater lobby, features new and recent sculptures by Justin Cloud of machine-like flora and fauna that reflect changes taking place across American industries including biotechnology, agriculture, and large-scale manufacturing.

The plants and animals depicted throughout the exhibition reference orchids, mammals, and birds, many of which loosely resemble those endemic to the Americas. Cloud purposely avoids realistic representation and gestures towards a speculative future where familiar plants and animals become less recognizable and changed, in part due to human intervention through technology.

“With astounding skill, Cloud creates sculptures that echo both the utopian potential and the dystopian possibilities of a heavily technologized world,” Firestone said. “Alluding to recent developments in bioengineering and highly automated agriculture, Cloud calls into question the impacts of technology on human and non-human environs alike.”

On view in the Segal Gallery, Caroline Garcia’s Dancing on Axes and Spears is the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States. Garcia’s works explore her Filipino identity, assimilation and cultural memory, and Indigeneity through diasporic and feminist perspectives. Employing video, performance, sculpture, and installation, Garcia addresses a central theme of “alterity” – an anthropological term meaning "otherness” to mark her position in the diaspora where distance, language barriers, and colonization fracture traditional knowledge.

The works featured are emblematic of the ways Garcia resists assimilation tactics within colonized land. These unique survival strategies are informed by elements of Indigenous Filipino culture and traditions including martial arts and spirituality, technology, and community collaborations.

“Garcia reflects on feelings of belonging and alienation from her ancestral homeland in the Philippines and her current home in the United States through a range of media and approaches,” Firestone said. “Her reverence for Indigenous practices, sensitivity to issues of authenticity, and embrace of corresponding nuances related to her diasporic identity create a complicated, sentimental, and layered exhibition that conveys overlapping issues that are not easily distilled.”