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(RE)PAINTING HISTORIES

Client
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design

Timeline
2 weeks (April, 2023)

Tools
Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign

Skills
Art Historical Research, Museum Curation, Museum Label Writing

THE PURPOSE

The narratives of European culture are told without mention of their colonial origins. Histories of resource extraction and non-European aesthetic formativeness are rarely referenced in the architectural epicenters, or 'grand' galleries of museums.

Our response was to conduct a museum label intervention called “(Re)Painting Histories”

“(Re)Painting Histories” attempted to problematize and acknowledge the realities of cultural exchange, and sometimes even erasure, evident in the production of the works on view in this gallery. From Rembrandt's Mughal influences to the South Asian origins of the color yellow, we worked to curate a journey through the RISD Museum's collection far beyond what is exhibited on the walls of the Grand Gallery.

THE CONTEXT

In collaboration with the RISD Museum, Saxena Center at Brown and Fleet Library at RISD, the event for the launch of New England’s First Publication for the South Asian Diaspora— desi-gned, was a space for students to connect with artists, faculty, and staff who work in the areas of print and publishing, South Asian studies, and art and design research, as we celebrated with drinks, charcuterie, and live classical and contemporary South Asian music at the RISD Museum's Grand Gallery.

It is ironic that we were in the European galleries, celebrating a publication whose entire work has been focused on revisiting South Asian artifacts and stories from Euro-American archives that often overlook subaltern truths

THE IMPACT

The project is currently being adopted by the Education Department at the Museum to be integrated into Teen and K-12 education programs to decolonize the museum space. The labels will also be installed as a temporary intervention in the space as a site-specific installation.

CONCEPT

ORIGINAL CURATORIAL NOTE

MUSEUM INTERVENTION

MUSEUM LABELS

TEXTILES

Histories of textile trade and influences that are evident in the costumes of European Art, such as Chintz, Zardozi, ‘Cashmere’ shawls, and cotton prints.

PIGMENTS

Histories of pigments used in these paintings, tracing their rootes back to South Asia, such as lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, Indian Yellow from Bengal, and Venetian Red from the Deccan.

PAINTING STYLES

Histories of aesthetics, style, and compositions that were exchanged between Europe and South Asia, from Rembrandt’s Mughal influences to the origins of fresco painting.

LAND AND ECOLOGY

Histories of ecological resources that fuelled the largest cultural movements in Europe— from the Central Asian origins of the tulip bulbs to the early influences of the Arab ‘ud on the European lute.

JEWELERY

Histories of precious and semi-precious stone and jewelery aesthetic trades that inspired the greatest jewelery traditions practiced in Europe and the New World— tracing histories of pearls and poly-chrome jewelery aesthetics.

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