Voices
As the first day of the seminar came to close two things were on my mind. The first was the fact that I was freezing as we walked to the subway station. The second was what would I be writing about? What should I focus on for the next two weeks? I thought back to how the day was spend and what we had learned. When we visited the Brooklyn Historical Society we spoke to Marcia, the VP of Programs and External Affairs. She mentioned a lot of issues and concerns that stayed with me but the one that stood out to me the most was what she had to say about storytelling and representation. She pondered “How can the Brooklyn Historical Society be telling stories in voices that wouldn’t often be preserved?” “How many weren’t told that were not valued?” These are such important questions that any historical or even art museum should be asking themselves constantly. How can they represent different cultures, religions, societies, and point of views in a respectful way?
As I’ve mentioned before, it took almost two decades to see myself represented in a museum. That’s absurd. So for the next two weeks I will be on the look out for how well museums are representing stories that are not often told. NYC let us see how you do!
