Human experience is fraught with challenges and difficulties, and art is often made and used to influence the outcome of the most trying situations. Within the domains of health, spiritual belief, and politics, for example, art can serve as a catalyst for action or provide a means of confronting or accommodating change.
The works in this section of the exhibition have been grouped with reference to three kinds of transformation. The first grouping explores a range of arts used in seeking spiritual intervention through prayer, acts of devotion, and consecration. The second grouping considers the many compelling ways that the arts help to ease the experience of death and facilitate the transition of the deceased to an afterlife. Finally, the third grouping consists of works made by contemporary artists that reflect dynamic social, political, and cultural transformations occurring around them.
In the menu to the left, click on the headings nested below Art and Transformation to learn more.
Object Name: El Arbol de la Muerte: Maquilando Mujeres (The Tree of Death: Factory Women)
Artist: Veronica Castillo Hernández (b. 1967, Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, Mexico; lives and works in San Antonio, Texas, United States)
Place of Origin: San Antonio, Texas, United States
Date/Era: 2003
Dimensions: H: 87.0 cm, W: 70.0 cm, D: 29.0 cm (H: 34.3 in, W: 27.6 in, D: 11.4 in)
Medium/Materials: Ceramic, paint, wire
Credit Line: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Thomas Wortham.
Accession Number: X2004.20.1
Buddha figure
Sagaing, Burma
17th century
Gilded lacquer and wood
Total Height: 123.0 cm, H: 106.0 cm, W: 66.5 cm, D: 36.0 cm (Total: 48.4 in, H: 41.7 in, W: 26.2 in, D: 14.2 in)
Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Mr. Louis Resnik. X75.58a-c
Object Name: Apartheid’s Funeral
Artist: Johannes Segogela (b. 1936)
Place of Origin: South Africa
Date/Era: 1994
Dimensions: H (of tallest): 53 cm
Medium/Materials: Wood and paint
Credit Line: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Patricia B. Altman in Memory of Dr. Franklin D. Murphy.
Accession Number: X94.31.1-27