What We Carried

This two-part workshop invites adult adoptees and other interested participants to select, contextualize, and interpret objects of personal significance.
At the center of an adoptee's narrative is the question of legitimacy. Museums offer legitimacy to everyday objects through institutional practices and status. Each participant will be invited to bring in one object which, through reason of adoption or other displacement, holds personal significance. We will discuss the ways in which museums collect, interpret, and present the objects and artifacts in their collections, and then apply these principles to our own personal items. Participants will write their own interpretive texts and objects will be photographed and shared online.
The workshops are free, but limited to 15 participants. Advance registration is required, and preference will be given to those who can attend both sessions.
This program is developed and facilitated by Mary-Kim Arnold.
Register now
Registration closes May 25.
Funding provided in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and private funders.