2026 SMFA at Tufts MFA Thesis Exhibition: Passages

Please join the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (SMFA at Tufts) for the culmination of the 2026 MFA class. On view May 5–17, 2026, at Tufts University Art Galleries in Medford, the exhibition Passages presents thesis work by nineteen MFA candidates, showcasing their richly varied practices and development in the MFA program. The exhibition’s title speaks to the journey each student has undergone, in art and in life, forming a conceptual throughline for the works on view.

A passage may be a voyage of exploration, a narrow path, or the simple, inevitable passing of time. Artists engage with these topics across a range of media, reflecting their ability to look within and outside themselves, traversing concepts that range from the microscopic to the geopolitical.

The idea of safe passage, the right to move through and occupy space, recurs throughout the galleries. Artists create assemblages of found visa documents, assume new identities through portraiture, construct cities of clay to conquer their fears, and reframe imported, discarded objects in provocative contexts.

Animals also figure prominently in these works, each rich with symbolism: a bunny trapped in a horned cage, goldfish dotted throughout a dreamscape, black birds that denote the four corners of the Inca Empire, a school of koi that stare expectantly, and the mythical, dog-headed cynocephalus.

Books serve as a passage through worlds visited and imagined. A couple navigating transition and estrangement, a man’s search for a long-lost friend, and the poetics of space forgotten and remembered are among the many topics these artists explore through bound objects.

Together, these works speak to a shared sense of adventure and daring, a call to discover something new, whether inside us, our social contexts, or within worlds of our own creation.

About the Curator
Max Gruber is Curatorial Assistant at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. He has contributed to several ICA exhibitions, including Tau Lewis: Spirit Level, The Gun Violence Memorial Project, Charles Atlas: About Time, and An Indigenous Present. Before joining the ICA, Gruber contributed to the exhibition and accompanying publication for Humane Ecology: Eight Positions at the Clark Art Institute. He holds an M.A. in the History of Art from Williams College.

Learn more here.

Image: Jemma Byun, Self Portrait, 2026.