Exhibition Statement

A phantom limb is the sensation of a part of one’s body still being present when it has been removed. In science and philosophy, the phenomenon has been used to understand how we link the mind and body, localize pain, and exhibit the lasting effects of trauma. In this exhibition, the artists of the graduating Master of Fine Arts in studio art class of 2025 examine the ways in which something can be missing, through erasure, force, trickery, chance, or misfortune; nevertheless, a legacy, aura, or presence can still be felt. Rebecca Pempek depicts fantastical images of the body in an effort to make sense of pain. John Felix Arnold reimagines landscapes of the American South to consider the ways they hold onto legacies of labor and violence. Dominique Muñoz’s installation uses personal family archives to simultaneously conjure and erase the presence of loved and lost ones. Carson Whitmore builds on utilitarian objects that are rendered useless, lead to nowhere, and are missing parts. Together, all four artists address loss, whether personal or environmental, and how we cope with its lingering effects.

Phantom Limb: Selected Works by the MFA Class of 2025 is curated by Julianne Miao, curatorial associate at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.