Art and Dialogues
“The museum is not only a place of preservation; it is a place of metamorphosis.”
André Malraux, The Voices of Silence
Traditional African art objects typically did not exist in isolation. Some were used ceremonially, in relation to bodies, places, and other objects. This section brings selected works from the Michael C. Carlos Museum’s collection into conversation, drawing out shared histories and the layered contexts that link them across time and space. Here I present visual groupings of select objects as an attempt at reuniting what might be separated in museums, and by so doing, listening for dialogues that emerge in the spaces between.
In these collages, I trouble the notion of acquiring knowledge through constructed narratives, particularly when objects are decontextualized and reinterpreted due to transnational movements and flows. In this imaginary museum, I invite readers to contemplate the significance and limitations of knowledge creation in the context of a museum’s curatorial work. I also explore the concept of opacity, both theoretically and in the design of the collages, examining which objects and narratives are foregrounded and which remain concealed.