Anna Talarico is the Department of History of Art’s inaugural graduate of the MA program in Contemporary Art and Curatorial Practice. In partial fulfillment of the degree, Anna curated “Partially Buried: Land-Based Art in Ohio, 1970 to Now,” on view at the Columbus Museum of Art from May 8–Nov. 28, 2021.

Drawn largely from works in the permanent collection at the Columbus Museum of Art, “Partially Buried” grapples with the Ohio’s history as a former frontier territory, confronting unanswered questions around land use, interpretation, preservation and representation. The diverse group of artists represented in the exhibition includes Dick Arentz, Dawoud Bey, Dorothy Gill Barnes, Center for Land Use and Interpretation (CLUI), Tacita Dean, Jimmie Durham, Jackie Ferrara, Robert Smithson and Michelle Stuart. Anna recently published an interview online in The Hoosac Institute (hoosacinstitute.com/Anna-Talarico) between herself, Brian Harnetty and Mary Lucier, the exhibition’s only two Ohio-born artists. The interview explores the artists’ reflections on how Ohio has loomed large in their practices and their intersections with environmental and social justice.

“Partially Buried” represents a collaborative partnership between the Columbus Museum of Art and Department of History of Art and is sponsored by a Community Engagement Grant from the Ohio State College of Arts and Sciences as part of the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme. Anna received one of the few $5,000 Alumni Grant for Graduate Research and Scholarships offered by The Graduate School at Ohio State. Associate Professor Kris Paulsen and Assistant Professor of Practice Daniel Marcus served as advisors for Anna’s exhibition, in addition to Tyler Cann, director of exhibitions and Pizzuti Family Curator of Contemporary Art at the Columbus Museum of Art.

Anna also holds a BA in history of art and a BA in French from Ohio State (’17). She has worked at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the North Carolina Museum of Art and the Wexner Center for the Arts, and she currently lives in Columbus.