Through the Irvine Foundation’s New California Arts Fund grant, I was invited to do a project of my choosing at the Oakland Museum of California. The grant focused on creating new engagements with their local, non-visiting community. I chose to work with a family vs. a community group to create a more intimate project that could elicit specific recommendations from the family for the museum. Calling the project “Tell Me Where the Mirrors Go.”

The original idea was to let the family choose works of art and put replicas in their home. In its place in the gallery, would be photos of the family members with the replica at large scales. At that moment in their lives, they were in transition, so we pivoted. We met onsite and off, ultimately taking tours of the gallery together, letting each choose works they gravitated to, and installing a pedestal with their photo and what they said about “their” piece.

Through them, and through the act of doing the project, lessons were learned in terms of how to not only reach but engage in meaningful ways: from the obvious (how can you be free when they are free?) to the foundational (who are you responsible to?). The project resulted in public events, a documentary short, and an in-gallery installation where their insights or impressions were installed adjacent to works of art. At the opening of the installation, the family led ad a tour of the works that spoke to them. The entire installation privileged Spanish over English, bringing their perspective into the interpretations.

You can learn more about the project via a talk from a museum conference.