Bridging Words and Images

In an exciting collaboration between the English and Visual Arts Departments, Marlborough students experienced a unique interdisciplinary learning opportunity. Mr. Brett Quimby’s English III class visited Seaver Gallery to explore connections between their current reading, Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, and the thought-provoking exhibition Terraforms. 

Curated by Marlborough alumna and independent curator Mika Yoshitake ’95,Terraforms has been on display at Seaver Gallery since the beginning of the school year. The exhibition features the work of three artists—Sandy Rodriguez, Sarah Rosalena, and Bently Spang—who address themes of environmental and social justice. Drawing on the science fiction concept of “terraforming”—the deliberate transformation of a planet to make it more habitable—the exhibition examines historical legacies of colonization and its modern manifestations in surveillance and space extraction.

Mr. Quimby explained the reasoning behind this innovative approach: “The novel we are reading discusses migration, the concepts of the ‘us’ and the ‘other,’ and how humans attempt to adapt to different places in the world. By bringing our study of Exit West into the gallery space, students find how art is another way to have conversations about larger ideas in the world.” Both the novel and the exhibition explore themes of migration, displacement, and human impact on our environment. This interdisciplinary approach helps students develop critical thinking skills and see how different forms of expression can address similar ideas.

The collaboration sparked engaging discussions among the students, who found parallels between Hamid’s narrative of refugees navigating a world of magical doors and the artists’ visual explorations of environmental transformation and social justice. Visual Arts Department Head Chelsea Dean emphasized the importance of these collaborations: “This type of collaboration is important because it helps students draw connections across subjects and disciplines; it also fosters a mindset of imagination and critical thinking, helping them understand new concepts or perspectives through visual representation. These types of exchanges offer students new lenses for seeing, understanding, and thinking critically about the world.”

As students continue their learning with Exit West, this opportunity undoubtedly provided them a deeper appreciation for the power of art and literature to illuminate important global issues. By merging these subjects, Marlborough is preparing students to think creatively, empathetically, and critically about the world around them—skills they will carry forward as thoughtful, well-rounded individuals who can address the challenges of tomorrow.