step across this line
step across this line
September 2 – November 8, 2025
step across this line explores how borders shape lives, identities, and histories. Through photography, video, printmaking, and painting, artists in this exhibition respond to the physical, political, and emotional experiences of migration. While national borders may seem fixed, they are often fragile, drawn by conflict, colonization, or bureaucracy. The artworks reflect on these arbitrary lines—how they divide people, cultures, and lands—and ask us to consider what happens when someone steps across them.
Spanning stories from the Partition of India to the U.S.–Mexico border, from the Underground Railroad to present-day Palestine, this exhibition invites viewers to reflect on how borders impact freedom, movement, and belonging. Whether voluntary or forced, migration is part of the human condition. step across this line highlights both the hardship and resilience embedded in these journeys, offering powerful visual meditations on transformation, displacement, and survival.
Guest Curator | Karen Greenwalt, Assistant Professor, Art History, OSU
- Press & Publications
- Resources
- Credits
Funding for our 2025/26 exhibitions and programs is provided by Marilynn and Carl Thoma, Lou Watkins, and the OSU Museum of Art Advocates.
Banner Artwork | (Left to right) Paulo Nazareth (Brazilian, b.1977), Untitled, from Notícias de América (News from the Americas) series, 2011/2012. Photo printed on cotton paper, 18 x 24 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Mendes Wood DM. Margaret Bourke-White (American, 1904-1971), India: Pakistan Refugees, 1947 (printed ca. 1967), Silver gelatin print on paper. Gift of Robert Flynn Johnson, 2018.014.001. Paulo Nazareth (Brazilian, b.1977), Untitled, from Notícias de América (News from the Americas) series, 2011/2012. Photo printed on cotton paper, 18 x 24 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Mendes Wood DM. Joyce Kozloff (American, b. 1942)Maui: Sugar Plantations, from Femfolio, 2006, signed 2007. Digital print with hand lithography on paper, ed. 54/60 Permanent Collection 2008.071.008. Paulo Nazareth (Brazilian, b.1977), Untitled, from Notícias de América (News from the Americas) series, 2011/2012. Photo printed on cotton paper, 18 x 24 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Mendes Wood DM
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