Cian Dayrit: Liberties Were Taken May 31—August 11, 2024, Blaffer Art Museum
Installation view from The Austere Enclave on view at Mono 8, a Philippine-based contemporary art space.

Cian Dayrit: Liberties Were Taken

May 31—August 11, 2024

Terra Foundation, Cian DayritCynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts
The phrase “counter-cartographies” describes Manila-based artist Cian Dayrit interdisciplinary practice of transforming historic maps into portraits of contemporary social conditions. Employing counter- cartography as an approach, Dayrit charts histories of imperialism, industrialization, and systems of subjugation that shape geographical boundaries and cultural narratives around the world. In Summer 2024, Blaffer will present Dayrit’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States with embroidered tapestries, paintings, and sculpture. The exhibition will be accompanied by Countermapping Workshops in Houston to excavate histories of imperialism, extraction, and displacement among historically marginalized people, while summoning new imaginaries that recognize the overlapping global struggles and resistance.

This exhibition is organized by Cynthia Woods Mitchell Assistant Curator Erika Mei Chua Holum in collaboration with Lualo Studio, LLC. Major funding for Cian Dayrit: Liberties Were Taken is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the John R. Eckel Jr. Foundation, the John P. McGovern Foundation, the Stolbun Family Foundation, and Blaffer Art Museum Advisory Board members.

The following donors sustain Blaffer Art Museum in perpetuity by giving through endowments: Cecil Amelia Blaffer von Furstenberg Endowment for Exhibitions and Programs, Jane Dale Owen Endowment in the Blaffer Art Museum, Jo and Jim Furr Exhibition Endowment in the Blaffer Art Museum, Sarah C. Morian Endowment, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Blaffer Gallery Endowment.

All Exhibitions