Dani's Day 19 Reflections

July 1st, 2016

Barnes Foundation Trip

Lunch

12:45pm-2pm

Meet Blake Bradford, Director of Education

2pm-2:45pm

I found Blake Bradford's description of the institutional vision to be very interesting. In many ways, his description helped me view the PMA and the Penn Museum from a different perspective. Blake explained that an institution can only tell one story at a time. I wonder what role representations of Africa play in how these institutions tell their stories. Although I felt that Blake made a good point about the importance of story-telling, I'd like to push back on the single-story narrative a little bit. Although each of these institutions may feel that they each have a unique and single story, visitors interpret the story based on their experiences and positions in society. In this way, numerous stories can be derived from the collection and how it's represented. I think this notion challenges the Barnes' seemingly less heavy-handed way of representing art. I think Barnes' categories are unique and very interesting in the ways that they force visitors to look at art differently by disrupting their assumptions; however, that doesn't mean that the visitor experience is as "unfiltered" as Blake stated. For example, most of the non-western art were placed in the side rooms, not the large main rooms. The non-western art shared these side rooms with western art; however, even in these seemingly diversified rooms, most of the non-western art was grouped together in large cases, making them distinct from the other art in the room. When placed with Barnes' essentialist ideas of African artists, I think this complicates the story of the Barnes Foundation.

Touring the Barnes Collection

2:45- 3:30


Believe it or not, I really liked this museum. I loved the feeling of being challenged to draw new connections between different works of art. Due to the fact that I was forced to focus on form and tone, I began to be able to recognize the works of specific artists as I walked through the galleries. Although I've never studied art formally, I felt like the way the Barnes represented art taught me how to look at art in a deeper way. A security guard literally had to tell me to step away from the art 3 times because I kept getting too close. As opposed to what's being done in Creative Africa, I didn't have to be prompted to look closer. The way the art was represented in the Barnes drew me in. I liked the use of symmetry and disruption. I also liked the ways Barnes didn't prioritize notable artists and their works, in terms of representation.

Nari Ward

3:30-4pm

Wow. Wow. Wow. I loved this exhibition so much. I love the Barnes for having it. Nari Ward's work touched on everything. Gentrification, citizenship, the American Dream, police brutality, mass incarceration, criminalization, Black masculinity, corruption, healing, hypervisibilty/invisibility, slavery, beauty, resilience, etc. I found his take on citizenship to be the most striking because he seemed so ambivalent. Becoming a citizen really means nothing in a country where people like you are treated as second-class citizens. At the same time, coming from a Caribbean background also complicates his position in the African American community. The exhibition was so powerful. I'm really happy I was able to see it.