History “Gone Viral:” Negotiating the Past through the Present

February 3, 2022

Join artist Valerie Hegarty and art historian Alexis L. Boylan for a virtual presentation and discussion about how Hegarty’s recent work connects the past and present, incorporating and interrogating historical narratives from the 19th century and beyond. Joined by art historian Alexis Boylan, Hegarty will examine how her 2021 exhibition, Gone Viral, engages with our own contemporary history while drawing from her past work and larger histories. Inspired by the artist’s personal journal entries from the onset of the COVID, Hegarty’s work in Gone Viral grapples with the complexities of our current moment and the mythologies associated with our past.

Alexis L. Boylan is the director of academic affairs of the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute (UCHI) and professor with a joint appointment in the Art and Art History Department and the Africana Studies Institute. She is currently the Coordinator of Seeing Truth: Art, Science, Museums, and Making Knowledge. Valerie Hegarty is a Brooklyn-based artist who makes paintings, sculptures, and installations that explore issues of memory, place, and history. Her work has been exhibited at The Brooklyn Museum, on the High Line, and at MoMA PS1.