As a part of our new initiative to feature a local, independent curator each summer, ENGAGE Projects is pleased to present The Land Between the Sea, a group exhibition organized by guest curator Noah Hanna, featuring the work of Juan Molina Hernández, M_m<M, SaraNoa Mark, and Farah Salem. Taking inspiration from Chicana theorist Gloria Anzaldúa, The Land Between the Seareferences the experience of nepantla, a Nahuatl word for a space between two bodies of water or worlds, as well as a manifestation of personal, social, spiritual, and cultural ‘inbetween-ness.’ This exhibition explores the desert as a space in which history, geography, and identity exist in a state of perpetual transition.

Noah Hanna is a Chicago-based curator and writer. His research interests are focused on transnational identity, visibility, geopolitical displacement, and human rights, as well as alternative art practices and institutional critique. As the 2019-2020 Curatorial Fellow for the Hyde Park Art Center, he co-curated the second iteration of Artist-Run Chicago: the largest exhibition of independent art spaces in Chicago history. Recent and upcoming projects include Rachel de Cuba & Hale Ekinci: When or if I was there (Tiger Strikes Asteroid), an ongoing research project with artist Shabtai Pinchevsky and a 2023 exhibition with Huong Ngo. He has contributed writing to ArtAsiaPacific, ART PAPERS, MAP (Glasgow), Newcity, The SEEN: Chicago’s International Journal of Contemporary and Modern Art. Noah holds a master’s in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Curating, and Criticism from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Image: Juan Molina Hernández, algo nuevo crece/muere (something new grows/dies), 2022, hair and thorns on shirt