The phrase “the sea in a jug” (بحر در کوزه, bahr dar koozeh) appears in the first book of the Masnavi, the great multivolume work of the Persian poet, mystic, and theologian Rumi (1207–1275). The meaning of this saying has been debated for centuries. In the context of this exhibition of art from the Islamic world, it is intended to represent the idea that a subset of things—in this case a group of artworks—can contribute to our understanding of a much larger cultural field. The paintings, drawings, sculptures, and ornamental objects included here date from the thirteenth to the twentieth century and were made in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and India. Offered on loan to this program are works acquired by the American curator, scholar, and collector Stuart Cary Welch; additional loans have been generously provided by the Harvard Art Museums, where Welch worked for more than four decades.

Here’s the Thing is the most comprehensive exhibition to date of work by the artist Hew Locke. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1959, but raised in Guyana—a British colony until 1970—Locke often sailed between the UK and South America during his childhood. Across a wide range of media, he considers the maritime vectors of mercantilism, colonialism, post-colonialism, migration, and diaspora. Within his nautical imaginary, Locke reconfigures iconographies of nationhood, and in particular, the military. By his own account, he is “making global links between people on the sea,” and his artwork is as historically freighted as it is contemporaneously charged.

The artist Sarah Cain seeks out new territories for painting and frequently works at the scale of architecture. For the Colby Museum, she will create an on-site painting that will cover the full expanse of the lobby floor. In a space that functions as a gateway to the galleries, Cain’s hand in hand will be immersive and reorienting, evidencing change and transformation in response to experience, from the ground up.