Ami Davis applies museum training to explain the human body in art.

The human figure in depictions of art is such a big, broad topic that a person could float through it like space, with no discernible ending. From the realistic sculptures of ancient Greece and Rome, to the revolution of photography, to the re-engineering of portraits by Kehinde Wiley, the subject is as vast as art.

But Ami Davis, a museum professional, intends to take on the subject in a free presentation. And to get it to a manageable dimension, she’s shrinking it to the confines of two art exhibits showing at the Monterey Museum of Art-Pacific – Re: Pose: Paintings and Re: Pose: Photographs. Both are harvested from the museum’s permanent collection and assembled with an eye on the human figure.

She’ll discuss how and why the figure has been represented in Western art throughout history, and connect this history to MMA paintings and photographs.

Davis is the ideal person to address those two shows because she curated them alongside other museum staff when she was MMA’s deputy director of collections, exhibitions and engagement. She was poised to lead the museum after Charlotte Eyerman stepped down as executive director and CEO. But Davis recently also resigned, to start a consulting practice.

She committed to this slideshow presentation before resigning, so the show must go on, with visits to Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Pirkle Jones, Roland Petersen, Joan Savo and others. Her aim: “to bring an unconventional perspective to conventional museum exhibitions and programs.”

THE FIGURE IN ART ON THE MONTEREY PENINSULA AND BEYOND is 6-7:30pm Thursday, Sept. 8, at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Irvine Auditorium, McCone Buildilng, 499 Pierce St., Monterey. Free. 346-3030, www.OldMontereyFoundation.org