Rewind Review Respond Vol.8

We invite you to revisit these events and take a deep dive into the ideas discussed. RRR Vol.8 was organized by the Exhibitions department, and in spring 2023 edited by Emilia Shaffer-Del Valle and Vanessa Pérez Winder, with original graphics by Ramyatara Mullapudi.

Art criticism and writing often serves as a bridge between the artist and their audience. It can amplify artists’ voices, enhance our understanding of artworks and their contexts, and be a powerful agent for raising critical questions and fostering meaningful dialogue.

As part of RRR’s mission to provide a platform for students to share their unique perspectives and promote cross-program collaboration, the profiles and interviews in “MFA Student Spotlight” were crafted by students in Maria Porges’ Visual & Critical Studies graduate writing seminar, Publishing as Practice.

This work aims to bring the reader closer to the artists and their artwork, providing a glimpse into their creative processes, inspirations, and conceptual frameworks.

Alia Brookshire (MArch 2024) received a BA from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, with work focused on interdisciplinary design, cultural anthropology, and land use planning.

Paulina Félix Cunillé (MA Visual & Critical Studies 2024) is an in-process writer and researcher connecting her experiences of self-love and an interest for community-bonding with a focus on music, film and performance. Félix Cunillé engages with the work of femme, women and queer artists who explore notions of justice, climate change, language, and community. In the last year, she has written reviews for Rewind Review Respond (San Francisco) and OndaMx (Mexico). Félix Cunillé is currently the Research Fellow of the Wattis Institute, San Francisco.

Giorgie O'Keeffe DePaolis (MA Visual & Critical Studies 2025) received an interdisciplinary degree from Western Washington University (2022) and has a professional background in arts education and nonprofit administration. Currently, they strive to apply their academic and field experience in curatorial and editorial capacities at CCA.

Evelynn Harra (MA Visual & Critical Studies 2024) has an interest in the visual culture of perception. Her research values the multiplicity of personal experience to deeper understand the visual art within our culture.

Sam Hiura (she/her) (MA Curatorial Practice / MA Visual and Critical Studies ‘25) is a second-year graduate student in CCA's dual degree program for CURP and VCS. Her academic and professional focuses are centered on contemporary art as resistance, with a particular interest in the intersections of queer and BIPOC experiences.

Yunfei Hua (MA Visual & Critical Studies 2025) is a writer and researcher currently based in San Francisco, who studies visual culture with an interest in subcultural communities and their cultural productions. She has written about self-motivated resistance that happened in post-epidemic China and is now working on research on fandom communities.

Nagi Lee (MFA Fine Arts 2025) specializes in painting and enjoys writing about art. Her current works feature expressionless figures, capturing the complex stories and emotions within. She hopes to communicate with many people through her unique perspective in both her writing and artwork.

Ramyatara Mullapudi is a graphic designer based in San Francisco who works on branding, visual identities, editorial design, and UI design.

Emilia Shaffer-Del Valle (MA Visual & Critical Studies 2024) is a writer and curator whose interdisciplinary research centers on decolonial notions of selfhood and community.

Vanessa Perez Winder (b. Lima, Peru 1996) is a first year student in the Visual and Critical Studies Master’s program and RRR’s Assistant Editor. They believe in working toward liberatory and experimental forms of art historical research and curatorial action.

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