'Irreplaceable You: Personhood and Dignity in Art, 1980s to Now' Addresses the Theme of Our Shared Humanity

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) is delighted to present the upcoming exhibition Irreplaceable You: Personhood and Dignity in Art, 1980s to Now on view January 16 through June 1, 2025. The exhibition explores the complexities of human empathy in a world that can seem dominated by acts of violence and dehumanizing rhetoric supported by both the relentless 24-hour news cycle and the pervasive influence of the Internet. Curated by Sean J. Kramer, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow at the BCMA, this exhibition includes more than sixty contemporary works in different media. Featured artists employ strategies like portraiture, storytelling, naming, and sometimes even traces of their own bodies. Among the artists included are Samira Abbassy, Alfredo Jaar, Glenn Ligon, Titus Kaphar, Hayv Kahraman, and Zanele Muholi. 

“A central question in our very polarized society is how we can continue to recognize the personhood and dignity of those we don’t know, and perhaps even those we do,” observes Sean Kramer. “While this is an issue that has challenged societies since at least the beginning of the modern world, the impact of the rise of cable television, the Internet, and social media puts a different spotlight on the subject, when it can be so easy to dismiss people as ‘other.’ The artists whose work is presented here are all responding to these larger themes around personal dignity, but doing so in ways that reveal and encourage empathy rather than by shocking the viewer.”

The exhibition will unfold across several of BCMA’s galleries, exploring themes such as state power and violence, spectacle versus vulnerability, visibility and invisibility, precarity, and empathy as resistance, portraiture and self-portraiture, performance, dignity, and loss. As part of the exhibition, there will be several targeted interventions throughout the museum, with works placed into collection galleries and juxtaposed with historical works of art to draw out additional perspectives. 

“This exhibition serves as a crucial reminder of the power of empathy, and the role of art and artists in fostering it, even while addressing an array of challenging themes,” said Frank Goodyear, co-director of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. “A project like this is also precisely the type of show that an academic museum on a college campus is well-positioned to present, with a diverse array of artists representing cultures from around the world.” Added Anne Collins Goodyear, co-director of the Museum, “Reflecting on our shared humanity is central to what we do, from our exhibitions and programs to our collaborations with students and faculty. A strong liberal arts education succeeds best when it starts from this understanding of our intrinsic worth, and Irreplaceable You is an example of how this can be done through art.”

Public talks and workshops with featured artists along with a scholarly symposium and online collection of essays will accompany the exhibition. As part of the exhibition, the Museum will also dedicate one space to serve as a room for meditation and reflection. Here visitors will find books related to the exhibition’s artists and themes, headphones with playlists curated by some of the featured artists, and pencils and paper for those looking to express themselves through writing or drawing.