MAPC 2021 Virtual Exhibitions

2 min readAug 15, 2021

Selections from #mapchistoryshow

Statement by juror Phyllis McGibbon

This open call brought forward so many compelling print projects!

At first, reviewing this work was like wandering through an open portfolio session at a print conference, looking closely and listening to printmakers sharing their intentions, reference points and challenges with one another. It also brought to mind the Annual Summer Show at the Royal Academy in London, where images of all kinds are juried into an event which is then curated by members of the Academy and installed floor to ceiling, salon style. Part of the fascination of any open call is the diversity of images and approaches it makes evident, and how that may challenge our assumptions about this contemporary moment.

As with any juried event, one ends up agonizing over the final selections— there were far more accomplished and deserving works than I could include—but I appreciated the opportunity to review the all the entries repeatedly, knowing that others could be scrolling through the images at the same time, propelled by their own criteria.

Initially I was asked to choose 10 pieces from the 100+ submissions to #mapchistoryshow. However, given that all the prints were already visible to the public, I decided to focus on three preoccupations that could provide a context for thinking more deeply about these projects and how they address notions of history:

Remembering This Body/This Time
Print projects that reconsider notions of portraiture and/or visibility at this historical moment
Revisitations & Reverberations
Print projects that explore graphic systems of notation, noticing gaps in our historical awareness and echoes of the past
Reclamation: Legacies & Linkages
Print projects that underscore unacknowledged connections and lineages across time

Thanks to everyone who took the time to share their work in this way.

Phyllis