8:08

“There’s a certain experiential dynamic you can have in an abstract painting, but also there isn’t a particular reading. I was really interested in that space, this space of flux, fluidity, opacity… I think there’s a lot of freedom in that space. For me that was really important.” — Julie Mehretu

The acclaimed Julie Mehretu mid-career retrospective that opened in 2019 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and continued at the High Museum, is now open at the Whitney Museum of American Art, through August 8, 2021. Checkerboard Film Foundation followed Mehretu during the planning and creation of recent works for the exhibition, resulting in the hour-long documentary “Julie Mehretu: Palimpsest.” Now, courtesy of the Whitney, Checkerboard Films has released an abbreviated version of the film, “Julie Mehretu: Mid-Career Survey,” focussing specifically on the creation of the work Haka (and Riot) (2019). The film offers an intimate and in-depth behind-the-scenes look at Mehretu and her practice, in addition to the planning that went into curating the exhibition.

From the Whitney Museum:

“Julie Mehretu: Mid-Career Survey,” produced by the award-winning Checkerboard Film Foundation, was screened at the LACMA and High Museum installations of the Julie Mehretu exhibition. Using excerpts from Checkerboard’s hour-long film, “Julie Mehretu: Palimpsest,” this eight-minute short offers a glimpse into Mehretu’s art, process, and inspirations.

Julie Mehretu is organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition is curated by Christine Y. Kim, curator of contemporary art at LACMA, with Rujeko Hockley, assistant curator at the Whitney.