Author: anethnaranjo
Open Letter-FINAL DRAFT
Dear senior staff of MoMA,
My name is Aneth Naranjo and I’m currently a freshman at John Jay College. More than being a college student, I’m a Latina living in the United States. Living in this country, it’s difficult to find representation of my community in cultural institutions, especially in positions of authority within cultural institutions. In the recent years, institutions have been more aware and have made a bigger effort to diversify and integrate their staff so it’s representative of our culturally diverse country. It has come to my attention that your senior staff, and staff in general, are predominantly white. While I’m sure that each employee has earned their spot, I would also like to challenge you to build a more diverse staff. There are many museums that lack a diverse and integrated staff, but I picked this museum because MoMA because currently you’re very influential to to a very big and diverse audience. According to a report from the Themed Entertainment Index, in 2016, MoMA was the seventh most visited museum in North America with 2.8 million visitors. These visitors come from all different kinds of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. When you’re serving a wide and diverse audience like you are, it’s important to have a staff that is representative of your audience for several reasons.
Speaking from experience, being a person of color and seeing that almost everyone in an authoritative position is white is discouraging as a young kid. It feels like you can’t ever get there because you don’t look like the people in those positions. This is why a culturally diverse staff is important. We should want all kids, no matter their ethnic and cultural background, to aspire to be whatever they want. We shouldn’t set up barriers by not making an effort to diversify and integrate all staffs in all cultural institutions. We should lead by example and show all kids, especially kids of color, that they are free to aspire to be anything in life, like the director of a museum.
When you have a diverse staff, you are also able to serve your audience more effectively. There are certain experiences that people from certain backgrounds experience. If you have people in your staff that are able to connect with your audience about specific experiences then you will be able to display art that speaks to these experiences and your audience. People’s visit to the MoMA will become more personal and profound if they find something that speaks to their personal experiences. I can personally tell you that my favorite work of art at the MoMA is Frida Kahlo’s painting titled My Grandparents, My Parents, and I (Family Tree). Apart from the reason that Frida Kahlo is an amazing artist, the reason why this is my favorite work of art at the MoMA is because I am able to connect with it. Her family resembles my family and I am able to see myself in her painting. I know that your staff works hard to display art that is able to connect to a diverse audience with all types of life experiences, and I think that you could do this more effectively if your staff was more diverse.
Thank You,
Aneth Naranjo
Teju Blog Post
When I first began watching Carmen, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it because I’ve never seen an opera before. However, once I was five minutes into it I realized that I was actually really enjoying it. I really admired how effortless and casual the cast made everything look, even though every stage movement is planned and choreographed. I think the reason why I really enjoyed seeing all the stage movements was because it reminded me of when I used to dance. My dance teacher always told us that our transitions had to be smooth and look effortless, but we actually spent days rehearsing them. I was also hesitant how I would feel about many people singing the same thing at once, especially when they lyrics are about everyday things. The first time I saw this was when a group of kids sang about the soldiers coming into town. I got really happy seeing the kids sing and dance because they showed so much talent at such a young age. I ended up not really pay attention to the fact that it’s not normal to sing and dance in unison. I also enjoyed seeing and hearing the factory girls come out and sing in unison. The reason why I enjoyed it was because, once again, they made it seem so effortless and casual that it just seemed normal. Eventually, the singing did get harder to follow because the actors were stretching out words that really didn’t have any special meaning to the sentence. Despite the singing getting a little boring, I did enjoy Carmen overall and I really respect the actors for making their work so effortless.
The two images I chose show two of Singh’s elements: human presence and capacious content. The first image show both of these elements. The wide picture shows the spacious relationship between the two characters. The characters in the background also show the element of human presence. Singh liked to take pictures that showed everyday moments that are not necessarily especial. The men in the background having casual talk shows this type of moment as well. The second image shows human presence. This picture was taken after the factory girls got out of work. While the men were singing to them, the girls proceeded to do things that one normally does after getting out of work, like yawn.
Coco Fusco
Tu Afro no cabe en la foto-Alex Guerrero
Eight Seconds:
My first impression of this artwork is how the subject’s afro takes up the majority of the print. This makes me think that the artist considers the afro a very important part of the subject’s identity. The overflow of the subject’s afro from the first frame seems to be an act of rebellion against the norm, the norm being hair that is able to fit in the frame (straighter, less volume). The subject seems to be proving that she has more to offer than what is asked/accepted in society, her afro serving as her symbol for her message. Also, the borders seem to be part of the print, as opposed to just being the background.
Ten Minutes:
After observing the artwork for ten minutes, I was able to take in Alex Guerrero’s message much deeper. I was able to see why Coco Fusco claims that art is an effective tool to fight racism and other justice issues. Alex Guerrero’s fights against the western beauty standards that claim being beautiful means having straight hair and a light complexion. The words “Tu Afro No Cabe En La Foto” (“Your Afro Doesn’t Fit in the Photo”) represent these western beauty standards. These words also represent how unbeautiful women with afros are often made to feel. The “doesn’t fit” part really struck out to me because oftentimes women who can’t fit into western beauty standards are made to feel as if they don’t fit into society, as if they’re not wanted. The white strokes at the border that seem to be filling in the blackness of the subject’s hair is really representative of this. It shows how criticism of women with afro hair often eat away at the confidence of a woman. Women have and continue to straighten their hair and lighten their complexion because they have consistently been told that if they don’t they will never find someone that will love them. African American and Afro-Latina women were especially told this so that they would be ashamed of their ethnicity and culture, giving more power to white people. After hearing it so many times, women begin to believe this. However, the subject’s big and voluminous hair becomes an act of resistance and defiance against society’s oppressive views of beauty. Her hair shows that her hair isn’t the problem, the frame is. Her hair is unruly and free, showing that she is in control. The freedom of her hair shows the freedom of her spirit because she has refused to go by western beauty standards. She has found her own version of beautiful and shows it proudly. Guerrero is making the statement that beauty does not exclusively mean straight hair and that people’s oppressive view of beauty needs to change. The subject’s unapologetic facial expression show two things: how unapologetic Guerrero is for making her statement and how unapologetic all women with afros should be for being themselves. This art piece is effective at fighting racism and oppressive beauty standards because it represents all women with afro hair. Representation is so important when fighting social issues because it gives people who have been oppressed confidence and a voice in the fight. Alex Guerrero does just that in an image and seven words.
Open Letter to MoMA
Dear MOMA,
My name is Aneth Naranjo and I’m currently a freshman at John Jay College. More than being a college student, I’m a Latina living in the United States. Living in this country, it’s difficult to find representation of my community in cultural institutions, especially in places of authority. In the recent years, institutions have been more aware and have made a bigger effort to diversify and integrate their staff so it’s representative of our culturally diverse country. It has come to my attention that your senior staff, and staff in general, are predominantly white. While I’m sure that each employee has earned their spot, I would also like to challenge you to build a more diverse staff. There are many museums that lack a diverse and integrated staff, but I picked this museum because MoMA because currently you’re very influential to all audiences and also because like your name suggests, you’re modern and in the modern world we are more aware that representation in all fields is important. Being a person of color and seeing that almost everyone in an authority position is white is discouraging as a young kid. It feels like you can’t never get there because you don’t look like the people in those positions. This is why a culturally diverse staff is important. We should want all kids, no matter their ethnic background, to aspire to be whatever they want. We shouldn’t set up barriers by not making an effort to diversify and integrate all staffs in all cultural institutions.
Thank You,
Aneth Naranjo
Latina in the U.S.
For my video I decided to interview my friend, Julisa, about how she felt being a Latina in the U.S. We’ve often talked about what it means to us to be from two different cultures and in this video she talks about some difficulties she’s faced being in this situation. I decided to do this topic because I think it’s important to acknowledge the struggle of feeling like you don’t fit in, in either of your cultures and having an “identity crisis.” It’s also important to acknowledge that that’s okay and that itself is who you are.
