Notes on the 2025 MFA Exhibition
The Rewind Review Respond (RRR) series is a student-led publication at CCA featuring reviews and reflections on recent events. Entirely written and edited by students, this series uplifts their voices and perspectives.
Badri Valian (MA Visual & Critical Studies, MFA Fine Arts) activating The Prophet during the opening reception at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, 2025.
The 2025 MFA Thesis Exhibition spanned the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, Novack Gallery, and upper courtyard, featuring twenty artists working in painting, installation, sculpture, performance, photography, and more. In this insightful review, Rewind Review Respond Lead Editor Vanessa Perez Winder (MA Visual & Critical Studies 2025) brings readers into close conversation with the work and the people behind it.
With a perspective grounded in care, community, and critique, Winder captures the power of witnessing creative practices emerge in tandem. From drag-infused sculptures and ultraviolet dreamscapes to installations built from braided hair and hijab fabric, their essay draws out the experimental, political, and deeply personal stakes of this year’s exhibition.
Winder's piece reflects on what it means to build artistic community through uncertainty, and on the questions artists carry with them after graduation.
