Harmonia Rosales

In Conversation with ΩA visual artist

Join visual artist Harmonia Rosales in conversation with art historian Sophia Q. McCabe on May 2nd at 1:30 p.m.

Rosales’s work, currently on view in the exhibition “Omega Alpha,” brings forward a visually enriched narrative that reimagines the traditional imagery of the black body in Christian art to empower lesser-known subjects through the canon of art history. Interweaving the oral histories and stories of Afro-Cuban religions, Rosales's depictions of the black body illuminate parallels in classical Western narratives while confronting the historical language of the Eurocentric male gaze. Referencing Greek, Roman, and European imagery, “Omega Alpha” inverts the narrative of how faith and orthodox-based stories are told, envisioning a new beginning rising from an end. More information on Rosales can be found here.

This program is presented in partnership with CCIE, CWGE, Campus Safety, and the Student Life Enhancement Fee.

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About the Speakers: 

Harmonia Rosales

Influenced by her multicultural Afro-Cuban background, Harmonia Rosales’s (B. 1984, Chicago, IL) primary artistic concern focuses on Black female empowerment through a diasporic lens. Her work seamlessly entwines the oral narratives and deities of the West African Yorùbá religion, Greco-Roman mythology, and Christianity with the artistic techniques of the Renaissance masters. For Rosales, reimagining hegemonic narratives preserves the memory of her ancestral lineage and functions to champion resilience and question Eurocentric notions of beauty.

Sophia Q McCabe

Sophia Quach McCabe is an independent curator and adjunct professor of art history at California State University, Long Beach. She received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research and publications span Renaissance and contemporary art, including the work of Harmonia Rosales. Sophia has received awards from the German American Fulbright Commission, the Delmas Foundation, and the J. Paul Getty Trust, among others. Her upcoming exhibition Albrecht Dürer: Wanderlust will open June 1st at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.