UMass Boston

Preview our 2025-2026 exhibition program in our newsletter.

On view next:

Insight into the Other

• On view: November 14, 2025 – February 21, 2026
• Public Reception: Friday November 14th from 2-4pm

presented as part of an international exhibition exchange between the University Hall Gallery and Art & Art History Department at UMass Boston and the Golden Thread Gallery of Belfast

curated by Sarah McAvera and Sam Toabe

Artists include:

Ciara Finnegan, Sandra Johnston, Shiro Masuyama, Sharon Murphy, Sinéad O’Donnell, Peter Richards, Elvira Santamaría, and ​​Una Walker

About the exhibition:

Do we find insight into ourselves in the artworks that we experience? Do we use them as a prompt to confirm our own values? Or, do we use them as proof of “otherness?” Has the meaning of “the other” changed in the current political and social climate? Do we use the concept of “the other” as a means of maintaining the status quo?

The selection of artworks for Insight into the Other focuses on those whose meanings change according to the time and space they are shown in. All blur boundaries around what they are and what they appear to be, or could be, based on its relationship to the experience of the viewer and vice versa. Some works will be restaged for the first time in many years, shown in alternative presentations that provoke the viewer into being part of the work, leading them to question what they are seeing and experiencing. The multitude of alternate readings undermine the stability of the viewing process and our sense of self and sense of the “other.”

The selection of artworks for the exhibition will be drawn from the collection of the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast’s leading contemporary visual art program. Located in the capital of Northern Ireland, their purpose is to present high quality artistic programs embracing the breadth of contemporary arts practices by world-class national and international artists, and to develop, support and champion contemporary Northern Irish artists.

The exhibition exchange will result in Insight into the Other at the University Hall Gallery curated by Golden Thread Gallery’s Co-Director Sarah McAvera in collaboration with our Gallery Director, Sam Toabe. This collaborative exchange will will overlap with a group exhibition at the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast composed of studio art faculty, staff, and alumni from UMass Boston’s Art & Art History Department, opening on 2.14.26.

This is the first international exhibition of its kind at the University Hall Gallery.

We would like to extend our gratitude to the staff of the Golden Thread Gallery for their support of this project, as well as the faculty and staff of the Art & Art History Department at UMass Boston for making this landmark exhibition exchange possible.

Image above:

Sharon Murphy

Interval (after Lucio Fontano), 2015

For more information about the exhibition exchange, or to schedule a visit, please email us at UHGallery@umb.edu

Other Projects and Programs

Cannupa Hanska Luger's new artwork Transmutatio, coming to UMass Boston as part of the Boston Public Art Triennial

On View: May 20, 2025 - October 31, 2025

About Transmutation:

Arts on the Point and University Hall Gallery are proud to share that we are participating as a partner in the Boston Public Art Triennial. Through this partnership, we will be welcoming internationally renowned artist Cannupa Hanska Luger to develop and install his newest public artwork Transmutation on our campus, adjacent to University Hall, with participation from UMass Boston students.

New Mexico based artist Cannupa Hanska Luger (b.1979) continues his exploration into the visual language of the bison, through a participatory artwork titled “Transmutation.” Partnering with localBoston Indigenous community members, the UMass Boston Native + Indigenous Studies Program and NAICOB (North American Indian Center of Boston), the piece explores the loss of America’s buffalo population, while also celebrating indigenous resilience.