Inretrospect

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Full Issue: Inretrospect

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    The myth of originality
    (2025) Wang, Andrew
    The other day, I looked back to those special days when I was a kid. I would sit in front of a blank sheet of paper with a colored pencil, and freak out. I was a very neurotic kid. Nothing I could put on the paper seemed right. No beauty could come out of my mind and through my hands. There were a lot of neuroticisms I had to overcome in order to appreciate and engage with art, and a big one was a notion of “originality” in my head which always stopped me from actually making art. To kid me, art was about bringing something from nothing, and to take inspiration was to cheat. Art was the pure expression of coming up with an image in the mind and then transmuting it perfectly onto the page. As I grew up, I learned how a lot of my favorite artists worked, and my childlike notion of “originality” started to feel only like a one-sided illusion, held in the viewer but never in the artist themselves. Whenever I would read the history of a piece of art, I would look for the “originality” and it would never come.
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    The mete and the muse: the uncategorical American identity
    (2025) White, Jocelyn
    I often forget myself. Having moved around so often in my youth, I question if I can justify stating I am from New York, or Los Angeles, or even Hailey, Idaho. Over this past winter break, I visited four separate locations: New York, Los Angeles, New Jersey, and New Orleans, the home of my mother’s side of the family. Despite never having been there myself, I am close with my relatives in Louisiana - my mother’s cousin, her parents, and her six-year-old daughter, whom I adore.
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    Red in my memory
    (2025) Wang, Nancy
    Each year, as the first new moon of the Chinese lunar calendar marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the visual language of celebration takes over, with red emerging as the dominant hue in decorations, art, and symbols. Preparations for the New Year begin, with ubiquitous 福 taped onto windows and doors, symbolizing more than just a wish for happiness—believed to invite fortune. Rolls of couplets (春联 ) are placed on the doors, while peach blossoms and bamboo adorn the windows. Each year, as the streets of Chinatown come alive with the beats of lion dances and firecrackers, I’m showered with confetti and given 红包 (red envelopes) filled with money. Every action holds special meaning, symbolizing the giving or receiving of luck for the new year. In the drawer of my desk, I keep a collection of red envelopes from each year, as though hoarding luck itself. Often adorned with gold details and its year’s designated zodiac animal, these envelopes carry more than just monetary value—they symbolize the passing of blessings and the continuity of fortune across generations. The act of giving and receiving red envelopes, in art, represents familial bonds and the transmission of good fortune within the community.
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    The museum of fine arts’ presentation of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture
    (2025) Bennett, Cameron
    When you walk into the main Ancient Greek and Roman gallery of the MFA, you are immediately faced with several marble sculptures, pots, and friezes. It looks like a traditional exhibition of ancient art. In fact, the focal point of the gallery is a colossal Roman statue called Muse with the Head of Juno . The statue is practically the epitome of what comes to mind when we think of Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, with its flowing drapery and gleaming marble. The gallery is set up in a way so that one weaves through life-size sculptures and all white marble, but another one stands out. It is a Roman copy of the Athena Parthenos, and to the side is a screen with a technological rendering of what she is thought to have looked like. The position of the screen behind the sculpture forces you to reimagine the Athena Parthenos, as well as all other Greek and Roman sculptures.The text on the wall goes on to explain “The Myth of Classical Whiteness,” stating that objects in the gallery marked with a color wheel have traces of pigments and urges the viewer to “experience ancient art as it was meant to be seen.” Science and technology are now forcing museums to present a more accurate presentation of this art, and consequently forcing us to reevaluate our memories and perceptions.
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    The wereldmuseum: art, colonial legacies, and the power of reclamation
    (2025) Plantinga, Carter
    The Wereldmuseum in the Netherlands stands as a powerful reflection of the intersection between art, colonial history, and cultural identity. Once a repository for artifacts collected during Dutch colonial rule, the museum has transformed into a space that critically examines the legacy of colonized art and its place in contemporary discourse. By shifting its focus from mere exhibition to a more reflective engagement with history, the Wereldmuseum raises crucial questions about ownership, representation, and the ethics of display. It’s leading the charge for artistic and historical institutions to grapple with their colonial legacies, but is it enough? For centuries, the colonial powers appropriated, categorized, and displayed the artistic expressions of the lands they conquered. Dutch colonial administrators, missionaries, and traders amassed vast collections of paintings, textiles, sculptures, and ceremonial objects, often stripping them of their original meanings and context. These works, removed from their cultural landscapes, were exhibited through a Eurocentric lens, reinforcing narratives of exoticism and subjugation.
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    Fragments of light: memory, art, and the longing to preserve
    (2025) Yermekova, Maya
    What is art without nostalgia? Artists and writers alike are fueled by longing for something so distant in their memory and imagination that they often find themselves in desperate attempts to replicate that which was once lost. I myself suffer from nostalgia — its waves hitting me every now and then, convincing me that life, enshrouded in the veil of memory, is much more beautiful, appealing, and desirable compared to what I can see, feel, and hear right in front of me, right in this moment. I find myself incapable of seeing clearly with my eyes constantly seeking to catch a glimpse of something familiar. Yet, memory is distorting and so are all of my attempts to replicate the past.
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    Inretrospect
    (2025) Yermekova, Maya; Plantinga, Carter; Bennett, Cameron; Wang, Nancy; White, Jocelyn; Wang, Andrew