Contemporary art is dedicated to the conversation between the past and the present, the established and the experimental; it becomes more and more transborder, as life itself. Nowadays, people live in the world, where their beliefs, ideas, politics, and religion are constantly colliding. The more people expand boundaries and develop connections, the more complex and tangled our society becomes as a system.

Within the course of the Master of Fine Arts program in the University of Arkansas, Elena Volkova has been working with the topics of structures within social relations and human nature. Being a representative of a small indigenous ethnic group, she has always been interested in the astonishing correlation between one's ability to segregate from the others and, at the same time, the instinctive desire to belong to a group, which is indissolubly bounded with the idea of home and belonging. Elena investigates the complexity and fragmentation of human memory and perception through her personal multicultural experience. Her thesis show FRAG(mentality) presents a set of mixed media pieces incorporating painting, weaving, embroidery and three-dimensional elements dedicated to these contradictions in the modern society.

The show will run from March 16-27 during normal gallery hours with a reception at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 18.

Gallery Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and 2-5 p.m. Sunday.