see through love: 2025 MFA Thesis Exhibition

The Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota is proud to present see through love, an exhibition featuring the work of Sarah Abdel-Jelil, Justin D. Allen, Anna Clowser, alter hajek, Sarah Hubner-Burns, Roya Nazari Najafabadi, and Marcus Rothering, who are about to complete their Master of Fine Arts degrees in the Department of Art at the University of Minnesota. Reflecting on the exhibition’s title, the cohort notes how this it describes their adoration and respect for each other, while serving as a way through which they see the world:

“The name see through love references a 1994 song by the late and precious composer Arthur Russell. Those three quick words do a compound linguistic magic in our eyes. They describe the clear, generous, and close-knit love between us and the semi-permeable membranes embodied in each of our practices. We are directed by them to see our loves through to their realization, and to continue loving past that limit. They offer a way of seeing that looks beyond love to its other side, to the periphery of love where we are haunted by unseen ghosts, where love is porous and prone to mistakes, where love is the simple and relational unit at the middle of the universe. And they remind us that love is itself a way of seeing: love is the glass lens through which the seven of us see and see each other. To see through love is to yield care from the stalks of the prairie and the glacial lakes we are surrounded by, to yield kaleidoscopic color from the heart of winter and sensuality from dreamlike abstraction. To see through love is to resist the constructs of identity and time, to recognize in time the marks that sew us up to our past, present, and future, and to celebrate the raw, unruly love that courses loudly in us. To see through love is to see with the wide-open and receptive eyes of your own heart. Like Arthur sings, “We are a see-through love / seeing through sun and haze / I see through to the totally clear end.”

Sarah Abdel-Jelil

Sarah Abdel-Jelil, Breathing is Falling, Video, 2024, 1 min 9 sec. HD video.

Artist Statement

Inspired by my nomadic upbringing in a multicultural household across eight different countries, my work explores the relational nature of home, movement, and liminal spaces. As a filmmaker and dancer, I am drawn to the tension between the digital and physical, between the ephemerality of dance and the enduring nature of video. Drawn to abstraction and the ways that we experience the temporal, my work utilizes repeating patterns, kaleidoscopic forms, and time-lapse, as a way of seeing. My creative practice is environmental and relational, facilitating conditions for the work to unfold. 

Biography

Sarah Abdel-Jelil is a Mauritanian-American filmmaker, dancer, and multimedia artist based in Minneapolis, Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota). She holds a BA in cinema and media studies from Carleton College. She is a recipient of the 2019/20 MCAD-Jerome Fellowship and a 2017 Minnesota State Arts Board Grant. Abdel-Jelil has participated in residencies at Rosy Simas Danse - Three Thirty One Space, Minneapolis, MN; Caldera Arts Center, Portland, OR; and Château de La Napoule, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, France.

Justin D. Allen 

Justin D. Allen, Stitches, Archival inkjet print, 2024, 24 x 32 in.

Artist Statement

Rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and visual literacy, Justin Allen’s work extends in unexpected directions, involving people and places that may seem to have few links to the contemporary art world. In addition to photography, he uses video, sound, sculpture, and performance to facilitate points of connection for viewers. His work drifts in and out of concrete meaning, asking the viewer to fill in the gaps with their own associations and life experiences. “If you came here to have fun, you will. If not, you won’t.” This simple declaration summarizes the expectations he has for the viewer. 

Biography

Justin D. Allen (he/him) is a photographer, bookmaker, and visual artist from Minneapolis, MN. While growing up in Northeast Iowa, he began photographing the absurdity and humor found in the rural landscape. Allen has consistently kept a practice of self-publishing his own work since his time as a BFA student at the University of Northern Iowa. To date, he has self-published six major books as well as countless zines and printed ephemera. Allen also works in collaboration with other artists to design, edit, and produce books of their artwork under the name Make Do Books.

Anna Clowser

Anna Clowser, Road Altar Portal, 2024, Polaroid scans.

Artist Statement

My artistic practice is invested in the contradictions of my home and how legacies of care and colonial violence have impacted landscape, families, and animals in the midwest. I seek out places where multiple worlds, histories, and temporalities touch. Guided by intuition, I build structures, shoot celluloid film, and capture field recordings to create networks where multiple places and times can coexist and interact with one another.

Biography

Anna Clowser is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker from Iowa guided by her relationship with land, the search for belonging within the midwest landscape, and her familial histories. By working with sculptural materials such as metal, textiles, wax, celluloid film, and interactive technologies, Clowser builds networks that foster intimacy between people, the environment, and disparate time scales. She holds a BFA in sculpture and a BA in social justice with a concentration in gender, women’s, and sexuality studies from the University of Iowa.

alter hajek

alter hajek, quantum trocar, 2024, Digitally edited laparoscopic abdominal imaging. Dimensions variable.

Artist Statement

How is surgery like being in love?

Biography

alter hajek writes about devotion and inter-dimensional surgical embodiment in several mediums, including cast metal, sound, textile, installation, projection, letterpress, analog photography, ritual, and translation. The other night he dreamt with his eyes open. 

Sarah Hubner-Burns

Sarah Hubner-Burns, Auto-fauna, 2024, Oil on canvas, 72 x 72 in.

Artist Statement

I make oil paintings that emphasize color relationships to explore visual tension and resolve. Ambiguous bodily shapes become visible and recede into layered and morphing dreamlike spaces. I refer to these as shy forms. By loosely focusing my attention on a yielding quality, I gently and discreetly coax them into something almost recognizable. My paintings are about impulse control. I am curious about the mark-making that comes through harnessing motion into uncertain momentum—a  kind of soft restraint. I crave an expanded definition of the erotic, beyond sexual desire, to include deep connection and heightened awareness of pleasure in daily living. Painting helps me navigate the strain between what I accept and what I resist. The large scale of my paintings dissolves the act of looking, further allowing me to be consumed by it. Abstraction assists me in finding the correct focus for accessing and revealing subconscious impressions. The result is an imprint of a peculiar kind of knowledge or memory. 

Biography

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Sarah Hubner-Burns studied in New York and Berlin and has participated in artist collectives throughout the Midwest. Working primarily in painting and drawing, her range of artistic inquiry also extends into collage, sculpture, installation, and film. Her work explores dissociated memory, the body, and how together they complicate the idea of home. 

Roya Nazari Najafabadi

Roya Nazari Najafabadi, Shadows of Memory, 2024, Acrylic on canvas, 130 x 100 in.

Artist Statement

I weave my Iranian heritage into a visual exploration of identity, resistance, and environmental and social challenges facing women today. Through my multidisciplinary practice, I create immersive experiences that draw on personal narratives and collective histories. My work serves as a dialogue between past and present, inviting viewers to reflect on the constructs of culture and the transformative power of art. I bridge cultural gaps, illuminate women's resilience, and advocate for women's rights, using art to challenge perceptions and inspire understanding of our interconnected world.

Biography

Roya Nazari Najafabadi is an artist born in Iran and based in Minneapolis. Her work, which spans continents and cultures, incorporates painting, sculpture, and video to tell personal and emotional stories. She explores themes of identity, environmental issues, and the female experience, particularly focusing on the struggles and visibility of women, especially those from her home country. By incorporating Iranian motifs and scripts, Nazari Najafabadi weaves her personal history into each creation, sharing her cultural heritage and bridging cultural divides. As a storyteller, she uses art to invite viewers into a dialogue about freedom, repression, and self-expression. Her art is a testament to inspiring change and connecting humanity across borders.

Marcus Rothering

Marcus Rothering, Good Child, 2024, Earthenware and glaze, 11 x 8 x 8 in.

Artist Statement

Playing off of each other, my ceramics and textiles explore the intersection of sexuality, queerness, and blackness. Using a combination of styles, my work draws from a range of inspiration including a sensuality of materials and themes of hedonism, kink, and humor. My practice is a celebration of fluidity and diversity that reflects the complexities of queer existence, while inviting viewers to engage with raw, personal narratives. 

Biography

Marcus Rothering is a ceramic and fiber artist living in Minneapolis, MN. He holds a BA in studio art from Metropolitan State University. His large scale abstract ceramic sculptures are in discussion with ancestral enchantment, kink, and eternalization. His tufted wall rugs explore personal narratives and camp to express black queer sexuality. He has recently exhibited locally at Soo Visual Art Center and the Minnesota Textile Center, and nationally at Rubine Red Gallery in Palm Spring, CA, and Mudflat Pottery School in Somerville, MA. He was selected for the Milchoff Artist Residency in Berlin and was awarded the Rose Fellowship to conduct research in Seoul on Korean ceramics and textiles.