Meyers Gallery Current Exhibit


What Remains: A Contemporary Interpretation of Native American Earthworks in the Ohio Valley 

Photograph of Camden Park Mound, Huntington, WV by Steve Plattner

September 22nd - November 27st, 2024

Reception: Thursday Oct. 3rd, 5-7pm

In 2023, UNESCO inscribed World Heritage status on a group of four Hopewell sites in Ohio, adding them to the ranks of the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge, and Machu Picchu as places of “outstanding value to humanity”.

This extraordinary group of Hopewell earthworks represents a tiny portion of thousands of Adena, Hopewell, and Ft. Ancient earthworks that dotted the Ohio Valley at the end of the 18th century. The number and scale of these sites, along with the tremendous sophistication and physical labor they required, represent one of the great accomplishments of early human history. Today, fewer than 1,000 earthworks remain.

In the 250 years since European-American settlers made their unrelenting push into the Ohio Valley woodlands, many of the tall conical mounds, animal effigy mounds, long ridges, and geometric hilltop enclosures that somehow escaped destruction have been appropriated and incorporated – at times inexplicably –  into cemeteries, a country club, subdivisions, parks, farms, a strip mall and even an amusement park.

Through photographs and their corresponding “back stories,” What Remains explores these marvels of Indigenous astronomy, science, and society – constructed by skillful `mound builders' across the Ohio Valley between 500 BCE and 1750 CE – one basketful of earth at a time, with sharpened sticks and hoes made of clamshells. 

Mianisburg Mound, Miamisburg, OH by Steve Plattner
Mound Hill Cemetery, Eaton OH. by Steve Plattner

:: Events

FREE & Open to the Public!

Cultural Exchange:: What Remains: A Contemporary Interpretation of Native American Earthworks in The Ohio Valley

Meyers Gallery: Steger Student Life Center, 500 UC MainStreet, Cincinnati, OH 45221

Cultural Exchange:: Still Moving

Cultural Exchange:: Who is American Today?

Reed Gallery: 2624 Clifton Ave Rm. 5275, Cincinnati, OH 45220

Spotlight Days & Weekends highlight FotoFocus Participating Venues within specific geographic locations where artists and curators will be on site for talks, tours, special events, and featured programming. This is an opportunity to immerse yourself in the vibrant energy of the FotoFocus Biennial, exploring art within the communities that create and present it.

https://www.fotofocus.org/

Cultural Exchange:: What Remains: A Contemporary Interpretation of Native American Earthworks in The Ohio Valley

Learn how hundreds of earthworks have been destroyed while others have escaped destruction, often inexplicably appropriated and incorporated into cemeteries, country clubs, subdivisions, farms, strip malls, and an amusement park.

Additional Information: This educational event will take place in the Meyers Gallery.

Access to the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial Program is a benefit of being a FotoFocus Biennial Passport holder.

Admission: Free to the Public

Foto Focus 2024

About Meyers Gallery

The Philip M. Meyers Jr. Memorial Gallery is located in the Steger Student Life Center in the heart of the University’s Main Street.  Situated across from the recreation center and the Tangeman Student Center, we are located in the hub of student life and bring visual culture and practice to the university at large as well as to the surrounding region.  The Meyers Gallery exhibitions address two main objectives: first to expose the wider university community to the practices within DAAP; and second to present exhibitions that address the practices of other colleges within the university, generally historic or scientific in focus.  The intention is to provide the university population with access to a greater understanding of the visual presentation of complex ideas and concepts.

Image of the Meyers Gallery on UC's main campus

The Meyers Gallery is staffed by current students in order to provide them with a range of knowledge and understanding of exhibition techniques and practices.  This experience provides student artists, art historians, and art educators a setting in which to explore and implement the theories and concepts of their academic and studio practices into a working setting.  DAAP Galleries employees are equipped with the necessary skills to present and discuss a variety of visual materials with a diverse audience, thus enabling them to better articulate the visual communication of complex ideas and to foster a better understanding of visual communication.



Planning Your Visit

The Meyers Gallery

Hours: Sunday - Thursday 10am-5pm

Phone: 513-556-3088

Address: Room 418 (Ground Floor), Steger Student Life Center, 500 UC MainStreet, Cincinnati, OH 45221

Location and visiting instructions for the Meyers Gallery:

  • When visiting the Meyers Gallery, metered parking is located on Martin Luther King Dr. or in the Woodside or Campus Green Garages for an hourly fee. 
  • Enter campus from either MLK or the garages walk along Woodside Dr. past the new College of Business, and continue up the hill following the paver drive (UC Main Street). 
  • The Meyers Gallery is located halfway up the hill on the right-hand side in the Steger Student Life Center on the ground floor, directly across from Nippert Stadium. 

Directions: From ML King enter Woodside Dr. (Langsam Library) for Woodside Garage (accepts cash or credit). Walk up UC Main Street to the Steger Student Life Center. Gallery is on the right across from Nippert Stadium, see neon sign.

It may be helpful to view a campus map here.


Contact Information

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DAAP Galleries

513-556-2839

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