so so *so* glad i went to see edmonia lewis: said in stone before it closes at the pem tmrw. every first full weekend since march (bc i get free admission every first full weekend of a month) i've been trying to get my ass to the museum but inevitably something comes up or i'm just too tired to go (it's in salem and a bit of a trek (to me!)) and here we are in june now lol. fourth time's the charm?
anyways... 10/10 exhibit. i'd never heard of edmonia lewis before, which i'm now realizing is a travesty. it was fascinating to learn about her upbringing and how she strategically made connections and networked her way up her career, esp at a time when black and indigenous women were very obviously at the bottom of the social hierarchy (and how important it was, therefore, that those who were more powerful than her championed her name). there was a lot of cool indigenous art, too, for context given her background, plus interesting history about the abolitionist movement in boston at the time and how she contributed, as well as a really cool room that mimicked her studio in rome and had some really informative videos that walked visitors through the process of creating a marble sculpture, from the initial clay sculpture to the plaster molding to the final carving. the whole exhibit was immaculately curated.
the accompanying publication had both hardcover and softcover options and i probably deliberated for like 5 minutes on which one i wanted. the softcover was significantly cheaper but in the end i decided fuck it, edmonia lewis deserves the hardcover.
