스미스소니언, 억류 이주 아이들의 그림 소장품에 추가 검토 Smithsonian Museum Is Interested in Acquiring Art Made by Detained Migrant Children

Smithsonian Museum Is Interested in Acquiring Art Made by Detained Migrant Children

By Sara Barnes on July 12, 2019

 

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History is considering adding the drawings made by formally detained migrant children to their collection. The artworks depict the time these young people spent separated from their families and show distressing imagery of stick figures behind bars and people on floors under blankets.

스미스소니언, 억류 이주 아이들의 그림 소장품에 추가 검토    스미스소니언 국립 미국역사박물관은 공식적으로 억류된 이주 아이들이 그린 그림을 소장품에 추가하는 것을 검토하고 있다. 이 예술 작품들은 가족과 생이별 한채 지내며 감옥 창살과 담요를 덮은 사람들의 괴로운 모습을 묘사하고 있다. 이 그림들은 10세에서 11세 사이의 어린이들이 텍사스 맥칼렌에 있는 가톨릭 자선단체 인도주의 쉼터에서 그렸다. 이곳은 관세국경보호국(CBP) 구금에서 풀려난 뒤 많은 가족들이 가는 곳이다. 그곳에 있는 동안 아이들은 유치장에서의 그들의 시간이 어땠는지 그림을 그려줄 것을 요청 받았고 캔버스에 고스란히 그 당시의 실상을 그려냈다.  황기철 콘페이퍼 에디터 큐레이터 Ki Chul Hwang, conpaper editor, curator

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The works were drawn by children, between the ages of 10 and 11, at the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. This is where many families go after being released from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody. While there, the kids were asked to show what their time in the detention center was like and did so on canvases

 

The drawings were brought to light after the American Academy of Pediatrics toured the CBP facilities. Shocked by the squalor conditions, they shared the artwork with the media. The Smithsonian Institution got involved shortly after. According to a statement from the museum, they reached out on July 4, 2019 “as part of an exploratory process.”

In collecting these drawings, it would ensure the preservation of culturally relevant future artifacts. “The museum has a long commitment to telling the complex and complicated history of the United States and to documenting that history as it unfolds,” they write, “such as it did following 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, and as it does with political campaigns.”

Ben Glass, the director emeritus of the National Museum of American History expanded on the move, stating that the institution strives to “to inspire people to know more about American history and to hopefully create a more humane society.” And while it could be seen as a political act, Glass counters with the argument that many of their acquisitions have “some political value or some political implication or consequence,” and curatorial decisions “will be made based on what kind of documentary record they’re trying to create rather than making a political statement.”

h/t: [Big Think]

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