This program delves into the layered tensions between cultural heritage as a site of dispossession and as a realm of possibility for reimagining sovereignty. Building on themes from WPA’s recent exhibition, 93 Fragments, sociologist Dr. Cresa Pugh will explore how artifacts—whether fragmented or intact—carry histories of violence, resilience, and reclamation. Pugh will be in conversation with Jessica Valoris, who contributed as a thought partner to the project, and Mojdeh Rezaeipour, who organized 93 Fragments. Their discussion will reflect on how creative practices illuminate new pathways for cultural stewardship and radical reimaginings of care. They will consider how practices of stewardship and care might center community, challenging conventional museum frameworks and colonial legacies.

About the Participants:

Cresa Pugh, PhD is an assistant professor of sociology at The New School in New York. Her research sits at the intersection of historical transnational sociology, postcolonial social theory, and critical museum studies, with a focus on the cultural, political, and economic implications of colonial-era artifact looting and contemporary movements for restitution. Central to her work is an examination of how cultural artifacts looted during colonial conquest continue to sustain imperial racial capitalism and global racial hierarchies. Pugh’s current book project, Guardians of Beautiful Things: The Politics of Postcolonial Cultural Theft, Restitution, Refusal, and Repair, engages with the contested history of the Benin Bronzes and ongoing struggles over their restitution. In addition to her work on restitution, Dr. Pugh is developing a second book project, Fela Kuti and the Postcolonial African Imagination, which examines anti-colonial and decolonial thought in postcolonial Africa through the life and activism of Nigerian Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti.

Jessica Valoris is an interdisciplinary artist and community facilitator. She weaves together mixed media painting, sound collage, ritual performance and social practice. Jessica creates sacred spaces that activate local histories, ancestral wisdom, personal reflection, and community care. Inspired by the earth-based traditions of her Black American and Jewish ancestry, Jessica explores ideas through the lens of spiritual interdependence, collective liberation, and healing practice. She uses art as a catalyst for transformative well-being; inspiring dynamic conversations about reparations, abolition, earth-stewardship, mutual aid, and beyond.

About the Organizer

Mojdeh Rezaeipour is an Iranian-born transdisciplinary artist and filmmaker. Rezaeipour’s archive-based, iterative practice bridges over a decade of their varied backgrounds as an architect, storyteller, and community organizer. Their solo and collaborative projects have been exhibited nationally and internationally in a wide range of venues from DIY project spaces to larger institutions and platforms. In 2024, Rezaeipour was an Artist-in-Residence at The Luminary (St. Louis, MO), debuted their solo exhibition Notebooks at Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion (Washington, DC), and shared an inaugural iteration of Classroom Solidarities at the student-run Herman Maril Gallery at University of Maryland (College Park, MD).