My goal for this exhibit was to highlight the purpose and power of protesting, because in our current day a lot of people have seemed to forgotten how much protesting has accomplished over generations. Things like voting, civil rights, even gay rights, would not have been possible by sitting quietly and minding your business. The #TakeAKnee protest is in the news a lot lately, and people disregard it because they forget that while you respect your country, you also love it enough to want to change it…through protesting.
I chose these pieces while searching things such as – protest, riot, healing, social change, justice, etc – into Artstor. I closed the categories out to painting/photographs, and sculptures/installations. These pieces stuck out to me both aesthetically and symbolically. I personally like things that are colorful, however for the serious side of protesting I liked the idea of having more black and white pieces, because they show the emotion of the subjects. However, the color and pop came more with the pieces about healing and progress after protest.
I didn’t find too many sculptures or 3D works I liked, so the one sculpture I found happened to make a lot of sense to have as an overarching focus for the viewer, and so I knew it should be in the center. Then, I found the Untitled piece, which was colorful and not specific to any particular protest, and so I wanted that to be like the “sneak peak” item that the viewer would see immediately to get their mind rolling. Then I put the pieces in order of pieces that were of protests, to abstract pieces showing emotions related to protesting, to the pieces that demonstrate hope that after all of the struggles of protest, things get better than ever, and will prove to be worth it.
I didn’t want any kind of performance element, however I had a very specific idea of what the feel of the room would be, very gritty and not at all formal. This is why I made specific descriptions of how the room would be set up and showcased (lighting, wall colors). I wanted it to feel dark, only because white walls and calm background music like normal museums would be too nice. Protesting by definition is not at all nice, so I wanted the exhibit to feel edgy and an invitation to do things unlike how they are usually done.
