EXHIBIT OPENS JANUARY 2010

Between September and December 2009, four children have been producing an unusual product as the result of their studies: a museum exhibit entitled Banish Modern Slavery!

We invite you to attend the free opening of Banish Modern Slavery! in January 2010. The exhibit will feature the interpretations of these four children, who participated in a ten-week class covering exhibition design and the study of both modern and historical slavery. From an installation referencing the Department of Labor’s recent release of a list of goods potentially tainted by slave labor to original artwork, the exhibit speaks to the unfortunate continuum of international slavery.

During the opening reception, visitors will have an opportunity to meet and speak with the child curators, experience the exhibit, stroll through the larger museum (which features the exhibit Slavery: The Great and Foul Stain) and participate in activities centering on raising awareness about modern slavery (films, handicrafts, a lecture and more).

For further information, please call 914-965-4027 or visit our event information website, philipsemanorhall.blogspot.com.

This exhibit was made possible by a partnership between Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, a museum and historic house in downtown Yonkers, and the Adventure Center: Journeys of Wonder, Inc., an educational enrichment program. Philipse Manor Hall, the setting for the exhibit, was once owned by the Philipse Family, who were slave owners and slave traders in the 17th and 18th centuries.

HOW WE PRACTICED II (WEEK ONE)

We made rapid-fire, practice exhibits to help us think about themes, grouping images, and writing text.

Using postcards as representatives of pieces of art or objects we might use in our exhibit, we practiced making curatorial decisions. Should we include all the images? How should we arrange them? What is the title of this exhibit? Why should this exhibit exist? What should it tell the public?

We made two of them, each in 10 minutes flat or less. We thought fast, and created two mini exhibits, sitting at a table.

WE EMBARK ON AN ADVENTURE (WEEK ONE)

The gallery space (before).

We're here to tell you the story of how we produced an exhibit. Our exhibit. But, it's for you, too. And, it's about something important.

We are three students, one museum person, and a small host of supportive parents.

Our objective is to learn about, and then communicate about in exhibit form, the phenomenon of slavery. But not slavery that went extinct in the modern mind in the 19th-century: we want to highlight the fact that slavery is going on today. Right now, in 2009. As we speak, as we eat, as we sleep. The slavery you can still find in the threads of our clothes, the packages of food we consume, and in the books we don't read in school.

We'll be posting pictures, talking about our process, and sharing things about ourselves along the way. When we're done, we'll host an opening. You're invited, of course!

We're on our way, and thanks for following along. You could build an exhibit too. Anyone can. Whether you have museum walls or not.