The Fralin Museum of Art Announces Fall Exhibitions Opening in August Celebrating 90th Anniversary

Charlottesville, VA… The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia (The Fralin/ the Museum) today announced its fall exhibitions schedule featuring new scholarship surrounding the complex interactions between ancient Egypt and Nubia with The World Between, and the contemporary practice of empathy through disability with In Feeling. Having received the exceptional gift of modern Haitian art from Beverly and John Fox Sullivan in February, the slate includes Haiti’s Time, a selection from the collection. Internationally acclaimed artist Pélagie Gbaguidi responds to the paintings in this gift in her multi-media installation—the first of The Fralin’s Commission series. The four presentations open on August 30, 2025.

“Marking The Fralin Museum’s 90th anniversary in 2025, we are thrilled to build on the diversity of genres and artistic practices presented in the spring. This dynamic suite of exhibitions and related programs also offers the opportunity to share both the intensive research conducted by our students, faculty, and curatorial team, and the creative new directions of exceptional artists. We are especially pleased to showcase Haitian art from the Beverly and John Fox Sullivan gift and see our spaces transformed by Pélagie Gbaguidi and Finnegan Shannon.

We want to offer our visitors windows to other places and times, and opportunities to see the world we think we know anew,” said Karen E. Milbourne, the Museum’s J. Sanford Miller Family Director.

TheWorld Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa

August 30, 2025 – June 14, 2026

Featuring loans from multiple museums in the U.S. and Canada, the exhibition demonstrates the complex interaction of different cultures in Egypt and Nubia, from prehistory (ca. 3800 BCE) through the Post-Meroitic era (600 CE). It explores what kind of social and cultural worlds connected Egypt with its southern neighbor and Egypt’s relationships with other African cultures of its time. While contemporary scholarship acknowledges the indigenous origin of Egyptian culture, its story is still rarely told from an African perspective. This exhibition featuring 70 works including pottery, bronze sculpture, stele fragments, ceramics, jewelry, and clay, marble, gold, and quartz items aims to highlight the deep cultural embeddedness of ancient Egypt in Africa, beyond merely acknowledging its geographical position on the continent. What did Egypt owe to other African cultures in Nubia and, inversely, what did it bequeath to them?

Curated by Anastasia Dakouri-Hild, Professor of Art History at the University of Virginia (UVA), and the students in her course Introduction to Museum Practice: Egypt & Nubia: Grace Sophia Dexter, Tyler Glenn, Gabriela Hernandez, Annabelle Lawton, Ainsley McGowan, Lelia Morrell, and Margot Sovocool. Additional support was provided by the following students: Grace Delaar, Thomas Demichele, Grace Saunders, and Audrey Yin.

Haiti’s Time: Selections from the Beverly and John Fox Sullivan Collection

August 30, 2025 – January 4, 2026

Haiti’s Time features 26 works from more than 100 gifted to The Fralin by Beverly and John Fox Sullivan—considered one of the foremost collections of Haitian art in the world— including paintings, metalwork, assemblages, and drapo Voduo (also known as Haitian flags). The exhibition is divided into three sections: Historical Time, Personal Time, and Sacred Time and asks us what each of us knows of this island nation. Among the eminent artists presenting their vision of Haiti’s history, networks of faith, and everyday life are Rigaud Benoit, Wilson Bigaud, Myrlande Constant, Hector Hyppolite, and Frantz Zéphirin.

Curated by Karen E. Milbourne, The Fralin’s J. Sanford Miller Family Director, in collaboration with Laurent Dubois, John L. Nau III Bicentennial Professor in the History and Principles of Democracy and Professor of History at the University of Virginia (UVA), and Fralin Assistant Curator Ariel Ankrah.

InFeeling: Empathy and Tension Through Disability

August 30, 2025 – January 4, 2026

In Feeling: Empathy and Tension Through Disability features works by nine contemporary artists that examine how we empathize—the practice of being sensitive to, understanding, or experiencing the feelings and thoughts of another. Yet the practice of empathizing can also engender tensions relating to one’s own position and expectations. Exploring the relationship between empathy and tension through lived experiences of disability, this exhibition highlights and celebrates perspectives that challenge assumptions about ways of being and living.

Liza Sylvestre’s Interference 7/26/21 (2021), for example, is from her ongoing series of handwritten words on a sheet of paper that have been obscured. The redacted parts of each word correspond to parts of speech she cannot hear due to hearing loss. Sylvestre is interested in the visual pattern of this “loss” but is also interested in the idea of the “loss” hiding and protecting information that is private within the public space of an art exhibition.

In addition to Sylvestre, participating artists include JJJJJerome Ellis, Jerron Herman, Molly Joyce, Jeff Kasper, Christine Sun Kim, Park McArthur, Finnegan Shannon, and Andy Slater.

Curated by Molly Joyce, Dean’s Doctoral Fellow, Department of Music at UVA, and Kristen Nassif, Ph.D., Curator of Collections at The Fralin Museum of Art.

Pélagie Gbaguidi: Excavation and Knowledge

August 30, 2025 – May 30, 2027

As it envisions its next 90 years, The Fralin is inviting influential artists to reimagine and transform its spaces—both within and outside its galleries. Pélagie Gbaguidi, 2025 recipient of Belgium’s highly prestigious Ultima Prize for Art, is creating a multi-media installation that moves through the heart of the Museum—from the central landing, up the stairs, and across the mezzanine. In it, she imagines the histories and connections imbedded within walls—what has been shared orally, written down, forgotten, and remembered. Focusing on historical and religious links between Haiti, Brazil, Virginia, and western Africa, she invites us to excavate walls that divide us from one another and look instead to the pathways that connect us.

About The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia

Established in 1935, the University of Virginia Art Museum became The Fralin Museum of Art in 2012 in honor of a bequest of American art and service to the University by Cynthia and W. Heywood Fralin. The Museum maintains a collection of more than 14,000 works of art, including American and European painting, works on paper, and sculpture from the 15th through the 20th centuries; art from the ancient Mediterranean; Asian art; African art; and Native and ancient American art. Housed in the historic Bayly Building near the Rotunda on the landmark Charlottesville campus, The Fralin is dedicated to serving the widest possible audiences and engaging comprehensive visual education to enhance its visitors’ understanding of world cultures. Throughout the year, the Museum presents a diverse selection of exhibitions, public programs, research, and events that bring the University and broader community together. Admission is free and the Museum is open to all. uvafralinartmuseum.virginia.edu