As part of our April film series on Women in Art, the Maine Film Center and the Colby College Museum of Art present Aggie (2020, 1:32), a documentary that explores the nexus of art, race, and justice through the story of art collector and philanthropist Agnew “Aggie” Gund. The film opens with Aggie selling Roy Lichtenstein’s Masterpiece for $165 million to start the Art for Justice Fund. This fund makes direct grants to artists and advocates focused on safely reducing the prison population, promoting justice reinvestment and creating art that changes the narrative around mass incarceration. In June of 2021, the artist Julie Mehretu announced her donation of a major painting, Dissident Score, to support the Art for Justice Fund, joining a list of artists who have done the same. The Colby College Museum of Art has a work by Julie Mehretu currently on view in A Poetics of Atmosphere: Lorna Simpson’s Cloudscape and Other Works from the Collection.
Kris Bergquist, Mirken Curator of Education and Engagement at the Colby College Museum of Art, will introduce the film and share a short video and resources from Maine Inside Out, an arts organization that works to build a movement for transformative justice.
The Campus + Community Film series is a collaborative program of the Colby College Museum of Art and Maine Film Center at Railroad Square Cinema. Films selected are related to or inspired by current exhibitions and/or works in the Colby Museum collection.