reaching out
Wednesday 29 May.
Connecting with Clare Patey, curator and co-founder of the ‘Empathy museum’ proved to be a very valuable experience, because it made me understand how individual stories and community stories are being dealt with in the art world and creative industries. we discussed the different components that she and her team were always mindful of, such as the treatment of individuals, understanding and empathizing with their vulnerability but never from an advantageous position. She introduced me to the migration museum project, while we also arranged to keep in touch to see if there is a volunteering possibility in one of her pop-up shops/events taking place in June. From this interaction, I realized that what’s of value and unique in my research project is the emphasis on the intergenerational, cross-generational relationships. The migration museum project already curates and organizes workshops of various activities involving migrants or sharing their journeys and experiences with the world, but looking specifically at the relationship between 1st generation and 3rd generation immigrants when understanding identity can be an interesting adventure to embark on.
Friday 31 May.
Apart from the close interaction I’ve been having with my grandma (a 1st generation migrant herself), I wish to find 2-3 other cases and involve them in interactive activities, in simulations where they have to make decisions and to observe what happens in the midst of all this. Stemming from their stories, I will present scenarios to them (taken from real- life anecdotes) and they have to make the right call. All hypothetical scenarios will touch upon emotion and intuition, so there is not really a right or wrong answer. By the end of this, their answers are revealed to one another (e.g. grandson to their grandfather), and what can be observed is to what extent identity and decision-making stem from family values/ intergenerational communication. this intervention is meant to start a deeper dialogue about how individuals view themselves in relation to their previous (in the case of the grandchildren) and next generations (in the case of the grandparents), wanting to draw a parallel between the journeys we experience and how we share them.
