In Situ: Place, Meaning, and Identity in America

April 26 - June 18, 2022

Do we change the land, or does the land change us? In Situ explores the reciprocal relationship between place and identity by bringing together artworks from the OSU Museum of Art’s permanent collection. Taken from the Latin phrase meaning "in the original place," In Situ displays images of a changing American landscape and considers how its meaning shifts over time as we pass through, colonize, live in, develop, and observe the land. How do representations of place inform our understanding of it? What is the role of land in shaping national identity? And whose stories are left untold? In Situ invites you to reflect on these questions and more as you engage with myriad images of the United States throughout its history, from San Francisco’s Chinatown and Route 66 to tannery housing in West Virginia and New York’s Central Park. We also encourage you to consider your own identity and how it might connect to the places you encounter within the exhibition.

Reception: Thursday, April 28 from 5-7 p.m. at the museum.