Isabella: First Interviews and New Directions

Over the course of the day, I was able to get a feel for how surveying our audience might be like, even though the interviewing time was cut short. I was also able to work through the Art/Artifact  and Exhibiting Blackness readings and make concrete plans alongside Lara and Maeve. Together, we brainstormed ways to clarify our mission statement and establishing our methodology. It was good to sit down with Jess and go over how to get our plan approved, and even though I was disappointed we couldn't jump straight into surveying, I appreciated the lesson on how to operate within a complicated bureaucracy.

I'm unsure if this interview will be able to be included in the final research, but I really enjoyed my first conversation. I was able to talk to an older man who works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and was in the middle of his first trip to the Penn Museum. In our discussion of what he would like to see in future African exhibitions, he emphasized the importance of vibrancy and the relevancy of ancient artifacts. He was extremely impressed by the Cultures in Crossfire exhibition because he believed that the mixing of contemporary artists with ancient artifacts was a brilliant way of making connections between past and present. He said that museums need to be constantly starting new conversations to keep the collections alive. I understand his point, but I wonder if the mixing of present with the past could dangerously plunge certain cultures back into the past and blur their transformation? Especially as I am working through the exhibiting Africa and Blackness readings, I aim to see how certain strategies may seem appealing and dynamic, but could convey harmful narratives as well.