Research Question: What does the controversy surrounding the 2019 replacement of the NYC J. Marion Sims statue reveal about the divide between contemporary art and the public?

• Have you ever been in a museum and overheard someone saying "My toddler could make art better than this"?
• I was interested in the exclusivity of modern art world and the ways in which art overlaps into the real world
• Monuments are vital especially in our modern times when they are such focal points of controversy
• They can represent the values of a community
• They can also represent a central place in which the contemporary art world spill over into everyday life, a place where art and community values clash, where we can see the ways in which academics overlap with real world
• During this summer, I learned about how my work as an art historian should center itself around a larger worldly consideration.
• What transformative work can I do with the resources I have been given access to?
• I want to help bridge the gulf between the academic art institutions and the reality of public values
• Next summer, I hope to carry over my leadership training into an internship with a community organization that will help educate and empower the youth with regards to  the local history of art in their community and the ways in which monuments can play a role in the creation of a local and national identity