Stolen Objects, 2021
Stolen Objects was an installation I created that was on display at Smith College from December 2021 to February 2022.
Stolen Objects explores the ethics of displaying objects that were exported from their origin countries. Inspired by “legally” acquired objects from formerly colonized countries on display at the British Museum, I sampled the museum’s overly vague descriptions of non-western cultures and applied them to a culture we all know and love. I want viewers to consider their own relationships to objects on display, beyond what is written right in front of them.
This piece was also inspired by some of my experiences studying museum objects. For a research project last year, I tried to find the other missing pieces of a fragment of a Gandharan stupa in the collection of the Mead Art Museum. In my effort to find a match, I discovered that very few museums had detailed information on the origins of their own fragments. I found it frustrating that collectors dispersed the remains of a building all over the world and I couldn’t help but wonder if we would know more about the ancient world if artifacts were kept near the site where they were found.
Explore the work using the guide below:
1
2
3
4
5
6
