Part 1 - Curatorial Activism defined
Curatorial activism fights gender and race discrimination in the art world. Only 16% of the artists at this year's Venice Biennale were women; only 14% of the works exhibited at MoMA in 2016 were made by non-white artists; only one-third of the artists represented by galleries in the United States are women, while more than two-thirds of the students enrolled in art and art history programs are young women. Curatorial activism is a term used to practice organizing exhibitions with the main objective that female and different race artists are not excluded from canonical narratives of the art.
In This Is What I Know About Art, “There have been Black people since the beginning of time, but I was not seeing any of their art in any of my classes, how would I find more artists like Basquiat, Hancock, Simpson, or Ligon” page 10. Kimberly Drew explains how she didn't get many opportunities to learn about the artist and movements that got her interested in art. She also explains how she took her time trying to find resources on the internet but did not find anything worthwhile.
Kimberly's passion for learning motivated her to help Black artists gain exposure to the public through her blog. Her confidence and effort she invested in creating this platform make her an admirable person. Kimberly Drew is one of thousands of people who experience racism in the art world. Drew had to fight many difficult battles for being African American just to have equality with the rest of the people in the art world. In This is What I Know About Art: "If you wanted to be in a classroom with other students of color, then you shouldn't have enrolled in art history classes." Drew says that her art history advisor told her that after a Facebook post she made about a comment the professor made in class “If I were African American. “I would consider white guilt as offensive as outright racism.” She felt very uncomfortable after his comment that she felt the need to post it on Facebook and her teacher's response after that post made her feel even more left out and rejected. Pursuing an art career is not easy since we always have to be working on creating new art projects but Drew not only had to worry about that but also to give a place to African Americans like her in this art world. Despite all the difficulties that happened to her along the way, she remained rising from every fall for her dreams.
Part 2 - Lente Latine/Latin Lens exhibition
Juan Giraldo was born in Colombia; he is an immigrant and photographer. Giraldo's artwork addresses the mythologies surrounding the American dream. I think his purpose is the same as Kimberly Drew's. Just as Kimberly Drew's family immigrated to the United States in search of a better future for her, Kimberly Drew and Juan Giraldo had to go through many difficulties to have the same exposure as Americans in the art world.
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| Luis' Arm with Flag 2014 |
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| "Namesake" series |
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