INVISIBLE: SELECTIONS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

Exhibition Date: March 31, 2018 to June 10, 2018
Reception Date: Saturday, March 31, 2018 - 2:00pm

Invisible: Selections from the Permanent Collection is truly the product of a team effort: the exhibit was curated by MoNA’s curator and the five classes of 7th graders at Lucille Umbarger Elementary School! This quarter, the program staff at MoNA want to focus on questions about who has a voice in our society and how we can hear from the voices that have been stifled or are hidden from view. So, we asked over 100 7th graders for their help on the topic of invisibility.

There are many ways to be invisible. Maybe your voice or story has been silenced, or you don’t see characters that you can relate to in popular culture. Perhaps there are prevalent attitudes that diminish your sense of ownership over your own identity, or you are told that you are not good enough. Maybe people insist on telling your story for you instead of listening to you speak about your own experience. These are all questions that we explored together when curating this exhibit.

So, how can over 100 people curate one exhibit? This exhibit is only possible because participants trusted each other and listened to their fellow collaborators. To begin, students gathered together in small groups to put together mini exhibit proposals. They chose three artworks from the Permanent Collection that they felt embodied the theme of invisibility and placed them for the exhibit floor plan. The students then took time to write by themselves about an artwork that resonated with them personally, and those writings are available for you to read. The resulting exhibit is also based on the students' exhibit proposals. Curators are the bridge between the artwork and the public, and these students took great care in presenting a deep and personal exhibit for the MoNA visitor.