We are thrilled to sponsor this co-curated exhibition featuring incredible photographs at one of IU Bloomington’s prized spaces to experience great art, the Grunwald Gallery of Art in the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.
Great shows emerge from great talent, and there is so much of that to acknowledge and thank here. The David Levinthal works included in this exhibition came to the Kinsey Institute from an acclaimed art collector named Don Sanders, based in Houston, Texas, who has become a cherished friend to many of the artists he collects and likewise to the Kinsey Institute. Don came to us via Malcolm Daniel, Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, who is also a former Trustee of the Kinsey Institute board. We are deeply grateful to Don for his generous donation of materials, and to Malcolm for his continued friendship and thoughtful support.
This exhibition was co-curated by three talented and inspiring co-curators: Claude Cookman, Jennifer Pearson Yamashiro, and Rebecca Fasman. The idea for this exhibition was first suggested by Claude, a longtime advocate of the Kinsey Institute who knows the photography collection especially well. Claude suggested that this exhibition be curated by him, Jennifer Pearson Yamashiro, and our head curator Rebecca Fasman. Rebecca is immersed in the Kinsey Institute Special Collections on a daily basis, and Claude and Jennifer together have over 40 years of service to the Kinsey Institute, and even more years of connection as scholars, educators, and forever students of Indiana University. Claude Cookman, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Journalism at IU, and he served on the Board of the Kinsey Institute for many years, including as Board Chair for two of them. Jennifer Pearson Yamashiro, Ph.D., is Teaching Professor of Art History at Miami University, she earned her masters and doctorate degrees from IU, and she served as the Kinsey Institute’s first staff Curator from 1995-2000.
I bring up these backstories as but a few examples of the long and deep ties that the Kinsey Institute holds both locally at Indiana University and beyond. Everything we do is possible because of the people who have trusted the Kinsey Institute legacy: our incredible and dedicated staff and faculty, our inspiring students, and our many friends and supporters, old and new, who help us introduce new audiences to our Special Collections and create scholarship that brings contemporary perspectives and voices to our holdings. All of us at the Kinsey Institute honor our responsibility as stewards of humanity’s bold exploration of sexuality and relationships.
And through this curated exhibition, you are invited to be a part of that grand exploration with us. To me, Intimate Alchemy asks us to consider the edges of our eroticism, blurring the line between animate and inanimate, questioning the centrality of material bodies, the opportunity for imagination, and challenging what constitutes “sexually explicit” in art and in our minds. But more interestingly, what does Intimate Alchemy conjure for each of you?
I welcome you to join us in our efforts to boldly explore, and to continue to be the premiere sex research institute in the world, to steward archival materials that will inform generations to come, to curate thoughtful exhibitions that expand our mind, and to cultivate a community based on shared values of education, agency, and respect.
Please follow the Kinsey Institute on social media platforms, sign up for our mailing list, and enjoy our in-person exhibitions that invite you to take a deeper look into our holdings!
Justin R. Garcia, PhD
Executive Director, Kinsey Institute
Indiana University