22 Exhibition Experience

At the entrance to the exhibit, visitors are offered small, plastic, green and black, magnifying glasses in order to see the small tintypes featured in the first part of the exhibit, “Touch”.  As someone who often wishes there were a meaningful way to engage physically with objects at museums, I was so happy for a magnifying glass to hold and peer through.  The magnifying glass invited me to look closely, to get close to the images, and to connect with the depictions.  One of the ideas that emerges from the study of sexuality as an historic construct is how fluid and complex the concept and experience of gender and sexuality has been – and continues to be.  This exhibit gave our class an opportunity to engage with a variety of photographs that explored the spectrum of what it might mean to be or seem queer.  What a pleasure to discover this exhibit within our community.  My main takeaway was a reminder to continue to pay attention to opportunities emerging around me for my own learning.  Keeping an open mind and listening when recommendations came from students allowed me, and our class as a community to experience the exhibit of Ken Gonzales-Day’s collection.  I love being reminded of how easy it can be to show up with an open-mind and to learn from others who are exploring, and exploding, conceptions of gender and sexuality, historically and for the future.

• J. Valentine