The group of Chelsea students are part of a larger group of young adults from surrounding communities who created artwork in response to the questions, how do you share your cultural identity? How would you like to take your place in the museum? The teens’ work challenges stereotypes and will be featured in a museum display which invites visitors to consider cultural identity.
The display at the Peabody Museum — comprising two chairs and the combined teen artworks — will be on view in the museum, where the teens will be on hand to welcome the public in a special event, Take Your Place/Toma tu lugar on Saturday, June 4 from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge). They will be facilitating fun gallery activities inspired by the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, including making “light-up” postcards, experiencing old-school stereoscopic 3D views, sketching, and more. The display will be situated in the World’s Fair section of the All the World Is Here exhibition, and will remain on view through October 15, 2022.
“If you see a culture that’s unfamiliar, you’re being presented with like, new ideas, with new people,” said Lindsay Pineda Mendoza, 15, of Chelsea. “And I feel like that’s really important to be exposed to, because if you’re not really exposed to it, and if you have negative attitude towards it, you might be closed-minded to these new groups or new people.”
The museum display is part of The Hear Me Out/Escúchame project for Latino/a/x teenagers. It is a collaboration between the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture and local communities in Chelsea and Somerville, Massachusetts. Using the museums as sites of exploration, program participants are encouraged to experiment with online tours, mini exhibits, and other creative approaches inspired by their experiences in our galleries.