It’s an image etched into our national consciousness as Americans, perhaps from before we even know its context: that of a toddler John F. Kennedy, Jr. saluting his father’s casket. It was November 25th, 1963, making it the little boy’s third birthday, and while standing …
If you live in Boston, you’ve probably visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a beloved local museum that preserves the impressive art collection of philanthropist and socialite Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924). Fewer of us, though, are familiar with the museum’s complicated legal history, and the …
One of the best parts of living in an increasingly digitized era is the greater access to things we may never otherwise encounter. For me, that means seeing museums and exhibits across the globe that were, at one point, completely out of reach. One such museum is the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in South Korea, the country’s only national art museum. MMCA boasts a large collection of art spanning an even larger time period and I recently got to see some of this art through a virtual exhibit on Google Arts & Culture titled, “Looking for Another Family.”
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea, 2013
“Looking for Another Family” restructures the term and concept of family through “the sense of social solidarity.” In three parts beautifully framed within Google Arts & Culture’s digital platform, this exhibit considers 1) the ideal concept of family as the regulation and emotional turbulence, 2) how the body and mind are restricted within a society, and 3) how viewers can continue to discuss the issues raised by the artworks. One of my favorite pieces in the collection is Tandia Permadi’s Letter to Nan, which is a visual documentation of Permadi’s exploration with identity, sexuality, and abuse. Permadi draws on his childhood and his family’s strict adherence to the Indonesian belief that having a boy as your first born child is bad luck. Through this, Permadi discusses how his family treated him as a girl and how this blurred line between gender and identity affected his upbringing. Permadi’s story is not the only one to tackle difficult subjects like this; in fact, most of the works displayed in “Looking for Another Family” challenge longstanding beliefs about gender, sexuality, and the roles we play in society and family.
Letter to Nan, Tandia Permadi, 2020
Though I was engaged with the works here, it is easy to see how others may be turned away from the heaviness and overwhelming nature of the subject. “Looking for Another Family” is intentionally uncomfortable, it challenges beliefs and standards that many of us have grown up with and accepted as true; so, of course we would be uncomfortable in a space that seems to tell us otherwise. But, how do we as educators bridge that discomfort? How do we tell visitors that it’s okay to be uncomfortable, confused, or even unhappy with what they’re seeing? In my past experiences working with difficult subjects, I’ve found that I and many other museum educators were wildly unprepared to handle not just the complex discussions, but also the complex emotions and stories that visitors carry with them into these exhibits. Perhaps there is no easy answer, no one-size-fits-all solution – as educators, we remember that no two visitors are alike and no two visitors share the same experiences. Perhaps the best approach is the honest one, the approach that these artists have taken in being vulnerable and sharing their vulnerabilities with audiences. Some of my most endearing, memorable museum experiences have stemmed from speaking with staff who breach the fancy, elevated talk and instead share their own personal stories and thoughts, bringing their feelings and experiences into the conversation. By being vulnerable with our visitors, educators can make visitors feel comfortable being vulnerable with us.
“Looking for Another Family” is, in one sense, all about vulnerability; it’s about breaking molds that traditionally made us feel safe and stepping into new roles in society. Though Google Arts & Culture doesn’t currently facilitate further educational experiences with the exhibit online, it is still a fascinating way to engage with the works at MMCA. The digitized exhibit format also encourages visitors and viewers to proceed through the space at a rate that’s comfortable for them. You can experience this for yourself here and learn more about MMCA here.
“It disgusted me even to move,” wrote an artist to his younger brother, “and nothing would have been so agreeable to me as never wake up again.” The year was 1889; the place, the Saint-Paul Asylum in Paris; the artist, Vincent van Gogh. We’re accustomed …
It may already be February, but in my opinion it’s never too late to set New Years’ Resolutions, and one of mine—maybe not surprisingly—is to visit more museums! With museums increasingly reopening after the pandemic restrictions of the past two years, there has never been …
I’ve recently fallen in love with the New York Time’s Close Read series, a digital exploration of a select number of works that serves as a fantastic introduction to interpretation and, well, close reading. The format itself is very user friendly and as someone who has little professional training in the arts, the information feels comfortable and approachable, not at all didactic or overly wordy. As I’ve been parsing through this series, I came across one that has been sitting in my mind all weekend.
In Memory of My Feelings – Frank O’Hara (1961)
“How a Gray Painting Can Break Your Heart” by Jason Farago is an in-depth exploration of Jasper Johns’s “In Memory of My Feelings – Frank O’Hara.” My immediate impression of the piece was underwhelming and frankly, I thought it was another abstract piece of art that would be far out of reach for me. “In Memory of My Feelings” is a gray painting; it is literally 99% gray and even the physical attachments of wire and spoon and fork are all gray. So, to me, not only was this piece at first glance dull, but it was also rather depressing. However, Farago explores this color and its meaning within the piece beautifully using Close Read‘s digital format. Farago’s narration is accompanied by a smooth transition between zoomed-in shots of specific pieces of the work and larger holistic views of the entire canvas.
This easy access is important for both visitors and educators who may not be entirely familiar with Jasper Johns and his gestural paintings. Not only do we get Farago’s interpretation of what these specific aspects of the piece mean, but we also get a refined look at the piece as a whole; we can pick up on subtle nuances in the gray that our untrained eyes may have otherwise missed. For me, I didn’t even pick up on the presence of any words on the canvas, but Farago highlights the importance of the raised “A DEAD MAN” lettering (and even goes so far as to give reference points for those like me who still struggled to find the phrase in the gray).
“In Memory of My Feelings” is a difficult piece; it is heavy, it is grieving, and it is at times frustratingly vague. As educators, we are often faced with these difficult works and the even more difficult conversations that accompany them. Farago’s method of interpretation here can be a useful tool for educators looking for a way to facilitate these conversations because he allows the viewers and readers to digest the piece at their own rate while considering their own thoughts and feelings. He constantly comes back to the thematic color gray as a grounding piece that we can latch onto and expands each interpretation of an idea from this color gray. I am fascinated by this method for talking about grief, utilizing something as universal as color to connect audiences to a concept that is uncomfortable, yet well-known today. And I feel that there is even more to be learned from Farago’s use of the New York Time’s Close Read format; it is an excellent way of getting viewers up close and personal with these important colors and ideas on canvas, especially in an age where being up close and personal is not always possible.
You can experience Farago’s interpretation of “In Memory of My Feelings” here and visit the Close Read series here.
