Stolen Pasts
Imagined Futures
Redesigning the Hall of African People's at the American Museum of Natural History
Created in collaboration with Kate Ladenheim, & Yuning Tang
ENG
This work holds the American Museum of Natural History responsible for the violence of colonization that is embedded in the act of collection and display.
We honor the integrity of these objects and the people who authored them by :
1. Obscuring from view objects that were obtained violently or under unequitable conditions.
This work holds the American Museum of Natural History responsible for the violence of colonization that is embedded in the act of collection and display.
We honor the integrity of these objects and the people who authored them by :
1. Obscuring from view objects that were obtained violently or under unequitable conditions.
2. Providing information about the context and conditions of collection.
3. Imagining futures that take into account the traditions and evolutions of the people they rightfully belong to.
Current Hall
Our Intervention Includes
- A Reimagined entryway framing the intervention
- Commentary framing, and information throughout the hall
- Lenticular blinds on cases that contain objects obtained violently or unequitably
- An interactive, screeen-based interface containing information on the objects, how they were obtained, and their imagined futures
Lenticular Posters
The blinds feature illustrations representing the colonial past and the future of Congo. Covering the music and society case is a Mbuti harp on the left, while on the right is singer M'bilia Bel.
