The American Color Story: Part One_The Roots
Open AccessIntroduction_The Roots is the first part of The American Color Story, an exhibition series that brings to life the story of how fictional racial ideologies became societal truths about people of color. By bringing together many different pieces of knowledge, The Roots provides an opportunity to sort through, think about, question and learn how to grapple with our difficult racial history in order to fully assume our heritage as Americans.Historical Context_Humans have long been concerned with and sought explanations for differences between races. The ethnic exploration of the 19th century taught many to believe that physical traits such as skin color, hair texture and eye shape, and attributes such as prowess, intellect and sexuality are inherent and accounted for through biology. These deep-seated ideologies have proven exceptionally difficult to uproot and still influence our public perceptions today. As a society, we lack collective knowledge on why and how racial ideologies were conceived, on its continuous authority throughout American history, and on its unjust consequences for people of color. The Roots initiates this dialogue by unveiling “the power of scientific authority and institutions to construct truths”. Curatorial and Interpretive Goals_The Roots exhibition aims to disprove the idea of differences between race groups and to show that the divisions we see in our nation are not natural; they have been manufactured. In fact, racism within a society is proof that a system of racial categorizing exists, because without this structure, the physical features attributable to groups would have no societal meaning. It is not the presence of these differences that creates a race; it is the recognition and value given to them. The Roots initiates a difficult but necessary discussion about the origins of race by charting how racial concepts were constructed to control and allocate our country’s resources for the benefit of its white majority.Throughout the exhibition, visitors will encounter maps, objects, graphics and statistical data that will illuminate the scope and intersectionality of racial prejudice as a daily experiential occurrence for people of color. Visitors will see objects displayed as comparative studies to use as a tactile reference to the racial concepts that they are learning. The content will illuminate the complex and opaque forms that racial ideologies take and reinforce the curatorial goal of identifying race as a construct, a fictional idea that has been deeply woven into our social norms.Curatorial and Interpretive Strategies_The overall design strategy is a three-pronged approach utilizing storytelling, structural form and material studies. The Roots aspires to create an immersive experiential environment that offers visitors a multifaceted sensory encounter with the curatorial content. This content is composed of ten major research categories that represent signposts along the timeline of racial prejudice in America and are then further woven into four distinct storylines. These storylines are color-coded and perform as passageways to navigate America’s built environment and the exhibition’s multilevel arrangement. The structural form will be in the design of a maze to provide the geography to engage in active exploration and reinforce the curatorial premise of charting racial biases and their resulting privileges through mapping of the environment.
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Washington_gwu_0075M_15155.pdf | 2020-08-04 | Open Access |
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