Heidi Kumao: Panel Discussion

Join us for a conversation with artist and U‑M Stamps Professor Heidi Kumao, Stamps Gallery Director, Srimoyee Mitra, and special guests: poet Marilyn Chin, writer Lynn Love, and art critic Wendy Vogel as they discuss Kumao’s narrative fabric works and animations and the future of feminist praxis in art and contemporary culture. A public Q&A and book-signing will follow the discussion.

The book ​“Heidi Kumao: Real and Imagined” features narrative fabric works and animations from a solo exhibition that was held at the Stamps Gallery in Fall 2020. The exhibition was inspired by the courage, testimony, and experiences of women (like Christine Blasey Ford) who publicly report assault, harassment, or misconduct. The #MeToo movement gave voice to thousands of women to tell their personal stories, but also exposed a hostile backlash meant to silence them. The title, ​“Real and Imagined,” is a deliberate contradiction: both terms are used to reference a woman’s testimony and determine how it is publicly interpreted. Her account is accepted as truthful by many and simultaneously dismissed as imaginary by the court of public opinion: ​“her memory is wrong,” ​“she imagined it.” 

Copies of the book ​“Heidi Kumao: Real and Imagined” will be available for purchase at the event. Virtual options for event attendance are available. Please contact Jennifer Junkermeier-Khan at jenjkhan@​umich.​edu for more information. 

The book ​“Heidi Kumao: Real and Imagined” is designed by Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo.

Heidi Kumao: Real and Imagined is available for purchase from Maize Books.

Co-sponsored by the CEW+ Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund.