¤ Sara Rahbar, Opression Series, photography, 2007
¤ Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, Sometimes I Answer, video still, 2007
¤ Saskia Jorda, Brainwashing, video still of performance, 2006

COLLEGE PARK, MD – The Union Gallery at the University of Maryland presents
HYPHENATION features three artists whose works examine the American practice of disjointed cultural identification. The artists, each equipped with an individual perspective, challenge the lifestyles and standards of behavior projected upon their culture by an assuming public. These personal experiences speak on a widespread trend of hyphenation in a society where cultural background often defines a person. Runs from Nov 8 - Dec 20 with an opening reception and gallery talk on November 14 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm

When Saskia Jorda relocated from her native Venezuela to the United States as a teenager, she became aware of the layers of ‘skin’ that define and separate cultures – one’s own skin, the second skin of clothing, the shell of one’s dwelling place – all these protecting the vital space of one’s hidden identity. Jorda’s site-specific installations and performances map the tension between retaining one’s identity and assimilating a foreign persona.

The Iranian-American artist Sarah Rahbar challenges injustices and occidental concepts of superiority. Through her work, she awakens others and reclaims her human rights. Her art is a tool used to spread her message; it is a platform upon which she can stand.

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum was born in Mochudi, Botswana and grew up in Africa and Asia. She came to the United States to study in 1998.This nomadic upbringing surfaces in her work in references to migration and to the archetypal hero's quest. Her work navigates between, and negotiates with, contemporary essentialized notions of blackness and Africanity, while asserting a definition of self that is always shifting, always hyphenated.

This exhibition is sponsored in part by the Pepsi Enhancement Fund.

The Union Gallery is located on the first floor of the Stamp Student Union on the campus of the University of Maryland. Hours are 10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday.