Monday, September 14, 2026 12:00–1:00 Falvey Hall Programming by MICA Exhibitions and the Painting Department along with the on-campus exhibition DEVOTED: 20 Years of The McMillan-Stewart Endowed Chair in Painting Artist Kira Nam Greene and fashion historian Victoria Pass will be in conversation about the role of fashion, pattern, and art history in Greene’s portrait paintings. Greene’s work approaches fashion from a feminist perspective, understanding it as a tool for constructing identity and embodying power. Her background in political science and economy brings a unique perspective on the ways that global flows of goods and people have also always included textiles, patterns, and garments. Born in Seoul, Korea, Kira Nam Greene lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Greene has shown her work widely at venues such as the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Sheldon Museum of Art, Gallery Korea, A.I.R. Gallery, and Jane Lombard Gallery. Greene’s portraits and still-lifes combine contemporary socio-political discourse with the history and the tradition of painting. Victoria Rose Pass is a specialist in Visual Culture, particularly in areas of design and fashion. Her research considers the history of fashion culture in the 20th century and focuses specifically on issues of gender and race. She is currently the Chair of the History of Art, Design, and Visual Culture department at MICA. This program was made possible by the generous support of The McMillan-Stewart Foundation.
- Date: September 14, 2026
- Time: 12 PM – 1 PM
- Location: Falvey Hall 1301 W Mt Royal Ave
- Cost: free
- Event Link
Kira Nam Greene’s work explores female sexuality, desire and control through figure and food still-life paintings, surrounded by complex patterns. Imbuing the feminist legacies of Pattern and Decoration Movement with transnational, multicultural motifs, Greene creates colorful paintings that are unique combinations of realism and abstraction, employing diverse media such as oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolor and colored pencil. Combining Pop Art tropes and transnationalism, she also examines the politics of food through the depiction of brand name food products, or junk food. Recently, Greene started a figurative painting series spurred by the 2016 Presidential Election, Women’s March, #metoo movement and ensuing crisis of conscience, this new body of work aspires to present the power of collective action by women.