How Do We See Ourselves in Each Other?

Four people sitting in director's chairs in front of a live audience

 

Stanford's Institute for Advancing Just Societies and Zócalo Public Square kicked off a nationwide series of events entitled “What Can Become of Us?” on May 5, 2025, at the Asheville Art Museum. 

With this series, IAJS and Zócalo, a unit of Arizona State University Media Enterprise, invite everyone to envision new perspectives on migration, America’s changing communities, and how people come together across differences. 

Collaborative art

Asheville Art Museum Associate Curator Jessica Orzulak and Artist Pedro Lasch kicked off things. Their conversation focused on this event's theme — “How Do We See Ourselves in Each Other?” —  and his piece,  commissioned by IAJS for this event. 

Coatlicue & Las Meninas: The Stanford Edition (2007/2025) features a 10-foot-tall black mirror that merges a monumental sculpture of the Mexica deity Coatlicue (1400s), Diego Velázquez’s iconic painting Las Meninas (1656), and you. The piece, to be housed at Stanford in the near future, was installed on the museum’s second floor, and inspired the night’s framing question, “How Do We See Ourselves in Each Other?”

Collaboration was a theme of the evening, and during his conversation with Orzulak, Lasch described how his artistic practice has evolved over the years to pull in viewers:  

“When you go up there to see yourself in the mirror, that is the work,” Lasch said. “You are making the work with me. We’re collaborating.”

Insightful panel

Then Tomás Jiménez, IAJS founding faculty co-director and the Joan B. Ford Professor and professor in sociology in Stanford's School of Humanities and Sciences, moderated a panel discussion featuring ethicist Kwame Anthony Appiah, immersive journalism pioneer Nonny de la Peña, and Former Assistant Director of Charlotte’s Office of Equity, Mobility, and Immigrant Integration Federico Rios. 

“It was wonderful to see these thinkers and practitioners interacting with each other and the audience as we explored various aspects of how we might see ourselves in others,” Jiménez said. 

“I think we learned about how this can be tough to do well, and at the same time extremely rewarding as an important first step toward fostering communities where everyone can thrive. Reaching across difference to get to know each other is a must for us to flourish.”

After the panel, everyone was invited to continue the conversation at a catered reception on the museum’s terrace with the artist, speakers, and fellow residents of this gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains town. 

Learn more

Zócalo's website features a news story, photos, podcast, and video from the event and two related essays.

 

Outdoor group shot of event attendees

The IAJS and Zocalo teams, credit: Stephan Pruitt, Fiasco Media

Back to Top