UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art
Las Vegas, Nevada
We believe everyone deserves access to art that challenges our understanding of the present and inspires us to create a future that makes space for us all.
MessageMikayla Whitmore: Between a Rock and a Cliff
- January 13, 2020 - February 08, 2020
- Exhibition
- /
- Artwork
- /
- Artists
Mikayla Whitmore
"Magic Carpet," 2019
Archival metallic print
Dededo, Guam
While travelling to Guam to visit her partner’s family, Whitmore came across a deteriorating carpet lying over a dirt patch and soaked by the morning rain. Wondering if the rug had been left out to dry, she asked her partner’s lola (Filipino for “grandmother”) if she wanted help with it. The woman told her the carpet was put there to use as a walkway between her and her daughter’s homes so they wouldn’t track mud inside.
Her words prompted the artist to think of the mat as a magic carpet, a passageway for safe travel. It evoked a sense of human fragility. She imagined it as the cover of a grave or trap door, beckoning her to descend. Whitmore never lifted the carpet.
- Created: 2019