My work connects with members of various identities, from elderly people with early onset dementia to understanding museum accessibility for people in wheelchairs. The conversations I have been participating in explore the concepts of complacency, colonialism, and community engagement.
These conversations surrounding equity, diversity, and inclusion continue to highlight legacies of violence and the "spectacle of display" (as a curator stated in one of these dialogues) involved in crafting museum experiences.
Through these projects, my biggest concerns center around tangibility and "progress" within these spaces. Given the short amount of time I have to dedicate to listening and attempting to improve these experiences, I am concerned that my work will only serve as a small step to long-term change (which may take months or years to occur). To address these worries, I have been attempting to fully engage within my projects behind the scenes and offer my thoughts when asked by my supervisors or coworkers. Hopefully, through these meaningful conversations, and through reaching out to various individuals with more powerful positions, changes can be implemented after my departure.
A key example of this (which I have attached a photo below of the starting point of the tour) includes a museum Highlights tour of the Ashmolean Art museum I went on to gauge the visitor experience and report my feedback. In this tour, I noted the outdated language and ways the tour subtly catered toward a White, older audience with emphasis on Christian texts and skimming of Islam, phrases such as "cultures much different from ours," and the occasional glances while entering a section titled "West meets East."