Ella Westman

Date of Award

2026

Document Type

MA Project - Restricted Access (SIA Only)

Project Type

MA Project - Curatorial Proposal

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Contemporary Art

First Advisor

Morgan Falconer

Second Advisor

Leo Krakowsky

Abstract

This exhibition takes the form of a group photography show bringing together emerging artists from across the globe to explore the contemporary condition of youth. Through a series of photographic works, Age of Becoming investigates both the shared experiences and the distinct cultural and personal narratives that define what it means to come of age in the modern world. The exhibition highlights the work of fifteen artists: Dedipya Basak, Kenna Beban, Adraint Bereal, Stephen Cummings, Kabir Dugal, Rafael Gonzalez, Sofia Kayumova, David Kouakou, Igor Martiniouk, Marina Mónaco, Daniela Name, Jasiah Powers, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Taito Itateyama, and Yelena Yemchuk, whose practices together form a collective meditation on youth as both a universal and deeply individual experience. In an age shaped by the omnipresence of technology and the rapid circulation of images, Age of Becoming invites viewers to pause and reflect on photography’s enduring power to connect, document, and reveal. The exhibition acknowledges that while the internet and social media have altered how young people communicate, they have also provided new spaces for expression, self-definition, and solidarity. Within this context, the camera becomes both witness and participant, an instrument through which the complexities of youth are captured, reframed, and reimagined. The title of the show, Age of Becoming, refers simultaneously to its subjects and to its photographers, most of whom are themselves at the beginning of their artistic journeys. The phrase also gestures toward a broader question: what does it mean to “become”? What defines youth, and how does that definition shift across generations and geographies? Rather than offering a singular answer, the exhibition proposes that youth is both a state of being and a shared moment in time, a space of becoming that transcends borders while remaining rooted in the personal and particular. Across portraits, family archives, street scenes, and diaristic self-documentation, the participating artists trace the emotional topography of contemporary youth: its friendships, communities, contradictions, and quiet isolations. Viewers encounter scenes of intimacy and exuberance, church gatherings, family moments, nights of celebration, and tender gestures of young love. Through these vignettes, Age of Becoming revives memories both personal and collective, inviting audiences to recognize fragments of themselves within the works. Presented at the Renwick Viewing Room, a downtown venue situated amid the neighborhoods where many young New Yorkers live, study, and create, the exhibition finds itself in close proximity to its subjects. This spatial and emotional closeness reinforces the show’s central premise: that youth, while fleeting, is a connective force that binds generations and cultures. As the city experiences a resurgence of photographic energy, Age of Becoming positions itself as part of this renewed dialogue, asking how the next generation of image-makers is defining photography as both testimony and art. Ultimately, Age of Becoming seeks to bridge cultural divides and highlight the universality of growing up in an age of global connection and profound solitude. Through the eyes of its fifteen artists, the exhibition celebrates the resilience, curiosity, and vulnerability that define youth everywhere, and calls upon viewers to remember the moments that once united us all.

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