The Savannah College of Art and Design Presents deFINE ART

This year’s cohort of world-renowned practitioners is representative of the global artistic community, drawing from cultures across geographies including France, India, Iran, the U.K., the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S.

Across more than five decades, SCAD deFINE ART honoree Laurie Anderson (b. 1947, Glen Ellyn, Ill.) has pushed boundaries and defied categorization, pioneering the experimental use of technology, music, spoken word, and moving image in performances and installations. With All in Your Head, Anderson traverses time and space, bringing together the written word, projected images, and the visualization of alternate realities to question what is remembered, what is spoken, and what is possible.

Working in mediums of photography, film, and music, Farah Al Qasimi (b. 1991, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) interrogates the hierarchies of information and emotion inherent to the internet, embracing a multiplicity of screens and printing techniques including large-scale vinyl imagery. In Psychic Repair, she presents highly saturated images exploring rituals of self-presentation and their ties to identity, memory, and belief formation, informed by her girlhood in the UAE and experiences of womanhood in the U.S.

SCAD alum Mona Bozorgi (b. 1979, Tehran, Iran) uses experimental photographic processes to explore the correlation between representation and performativity, focusing on the materialization of bodies and its impact on the construction and production of identities. Expanding on her ongoing series Threads of Freedom in the exhibition Strain and Strand, she centers the role of imagery in Iranian women’s self-representation and performance of gender amid broader sociopolitical movements in the country.

Presenting her debut U.S. museum exhibition Into the Woods, Eva Jospin (b. 1975, Paris) fascinates viewers with the range of her creative expression, from her signature sculpted forests and architectural follies to her richly embroidered landscape tapestries and her most intricate, delicate renderings. Embracing the captivating mysteries of nature and ruins alike, her singular practice encourages us to contemplate contemporary materials and our place in history too.

An eminent artist recognized for his peerless international renown, Anish Kapoor (b. 1954, Mumbai, India) demonstrates his incomparable creative outpouring in Earth Sky on Red Ground, the first museum exhibition in the U.S. devoted entirely to his painting practice. Characterized by sensuous brushwork and an immersive scale, Kapoor’s paintings simultaneously emphasize our physical existence and the metaphysical inner worlds we share.

Max Lamb (b. 1980, St. Austell, U.K.) highlights his versatility as a designer and the thoroughness of his exploration across mediums with Elements, showcasing objects in a range of materials including metal, stone, wood, polystyrene, and textile. While the forthrightness of his methods often belies the meaningful nuance of his problem-solving, Lamb demonstrates the overarching ethos of his practice, confronting some of the most complex challenges of our era guided by an unparalleled inquisitiveness that unifies his approach.

“The SCAD Museum of Art is incredibly honored to present our 2026 SCAD deFINE ART season, which continues to take our programming to an even higher level. These eight new exhibitions showcase some of the most important artists from around the world, reflecting our growing institutional ambitions and the incomparable creativity of the minds we have been honored to work with. This year, our SCAD deFINE ART 2026 honoree is the legendary Laurie Anderson, who will dazzle audiences with her enchanting exhibition and keynote in an unparalleled, inventive format. We are also proud to feature the first U.S. museum exhibition dedicated to Anish Kapoor’s paintings, the first U.S. museum exhibition by renowned French artist Eva Jospin, major solo exhibitions by Max Lamb and Farah Al Qasimi, and an alumni gallery exhibition by Mona Bozorgi, as well as group shows In Character and Personified.”

DANIEL S. PALMER
SCAD Museum of Art chief curator

Many of the university’s top-ranked degree programs — such as sequential art, furniture design, illustration, painting, photography, and sound design — are represented in this year’s exhibitions and programming. SCAD students and community members are invited to connect with the artists and special guests in free events including talks, master classes, keynote lectures, and public art experiences.

An opening reception will take place in Savannah at the SCAD Museum of Art, Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit scad.edu/defineart.