Graduate Students

aforbes@umass.edu

Avery Forbes

Avery Forbes creates work that explores what we lose when we mediate social interactions through our devices, and aims to make visible and unignorable the pressing social issues that we often prefer to distract ourselves from. Consumer culture has a way of inspiring ennui rather than unrest. Avery's work aims to make the small indignities and injustices more visible, and inspire action

jessicascott@umass.edu

Jessica Scott's Website

I am a multidisciplinary artist working in performance, sculpture, installation, collage, theater and photography. My work addresses concerns of bodily autonomy, human rights, transnational feminisms, and transformations of the flesh through imaginary, literary and practical means. For the past 15 years I have designed and performed for Broadway shows, in a 1000-gallon aquarium and the Pacific Ocean, internationally, in living rooms and everything in between. I am currently a 2nd year MFA Candidate in Studio Art at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Originally from San Francisco, I received my BA from NYU with a focus on Political Science and Community Organizing. The values communicated to me through a mixed-race, women-led, working class family are present in all my work: written, visual and performed. I am now based in Amherst, MA and New York City.

amandaboggs@umass.edu

Amanda Boggs' Website

Amanda works in the mediums of performance, video and installation. She is trained in embodied practices (modern dance, yoga, physical theater, gymnastics, and varsity athletics), in visual arts (photography, film, and video), Eastern Philosophy, and ten years as an Off-Broadway performer in the harness-based aerial show De La Guarda.  Her background in aerial practices have given her a unique, kinesthetic understanding of the world on both horizontal and vertical planes. In her work, she explores concepts of identity and human connection through experimentation with drone technology and embodied practices.

bmedkova@umass.edu

Bibiana Medkova's Website

Bibiana is a cross-disciplinary artist who uses installation and new media to interrogate ideas of democracy and globalization. Their work has been shown at Benaki Museum, Athens Greece (2015) and the Satellite Art Show, Miami FL (2016 & 2017); their work has been included in projects that have been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (2017), MoMA PS1, Queens NY (2015) and Petzel Gallery, New York NY (2017) and has been reviewed in the Hyperallergic, ArtFCity and Feature Shoot. Bibiana is an MFA candidate at University of Massachusetts - Amherst, founder of Pickled Press and co-editor of Fotofobia.

xpham@umass.edu