Book Review: Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean, edited by Cassandra Coblentz
By Maggie Wander
originally published by Pacific Arts: The Journal of the Pacific Arts Association
Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean
Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean was published to accompany the exhibition of the same name that showed at three venues in Southern California from August 17, 2024, to February 9, 2025. The book includes short essays on each of the artists featured in the exhibition, longer thematic essays by the curatorial team and select scholars, and short excerpts from a symposium that took place at the Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa, California in conjunction with the exhibition. The publication demonstrates the extensive research that went into the exhibition—an aspect of curatorial practice that is often less visible to audiences—and offers an excellent glimpse into the dialogues, partnerships, and research agendas that characterize many recent exhibitions that take an interdisciplinary approach to social justice, environmental issues, and contemporary art.