The Lost Glory of Africa: Moyo Ogundipe’s Soliloquy: Life’s Fragile Fictions

Tucked in a small corner at the far edge of the “Arts of Africa” exhibition at the Denver Art Museum, visitors will find a four foot by six foot acrylic on canvas created by Nigerian painter Moyo Ogundipe in 1997 (Fig. 1). Vibrant colors flow across the canvas, almost as if they are dancing, broken … Continue reading The Lost Glory of Africa: Moyo Ogundipe’s Soliloquy: Life’s Fragile Fictions →

Mask (go ge) at Harvard Art Museums

In October 2022, I visited Harvard Art Museums and came face to face with a Liberian mask on the third floor, tucked away in an alcove off the primary exhibition room. The wooden mask’s face was dark with wide white eyes, contorted with an open mouth and look of distress behind its protective glass. Beads, … Continue reading Mask (go ge) at Harvard Art Museums →

Recontextualizing Historic House Museums through a Contemporary Lens

Historic house museums are often caught in a struggle between past and present, tasked with merging the historical and the contemporary to share relevant stories that resonate with modern audiences. While many historic house museums strive to incorporate histories beyond the apparent by delving into the labor required (often by enslaved people) to run the … Continue reading Recontextualizing Historic House Museums through a Contemporary Lens →

The Activated Collection

Collections are an obvious cornerstone of museums: since museums were first established, they have revolved around objects as both a means of preserving histories and a method of storytelling to share those histories with a diverse audience. Even as institutions have focused more on their role as an educational venue rather than a repository for … Continue reading The Activated Collection →

Hammer Museum: Evolution of Reinvention

Established in 1990 to house the personal collection of Occidental Petroleum magnate Dr. Armand Hammer, the Hammer Museum at UCLA has evolved into a contemporary community hub for the city of Los Angeles (“About Us”). Although the permanent collection primarily contains works by old masters, over the last two decades director Ann Philbin has guided … Continue reading Hammer Museum: Evolution of Reinvention →