Interview by Nicole DeSimone of Paige Moreau, guest curator of the “Stronger Sisterhood: Representing Intersectional Identity” exhibit. The interview took place in November 2020.
Unbound Visual Arts recently spoke with Paige Moreau, Guest Curator of our upcoming exhibit, “Stronger Sisterhood: Representing Intersectional Identity.” Paige is a Courses Coordinator at the Springfield Museums. Paige earned her bachelor’s degree in Art History from the University of Connecticut and an MA in Art History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has served as a Curatorial Assistant at Five Points Center for the Visual Arts in Torrington, Connecticut, a Curatorial Intern at the Mark Twain House and Museum, and a Graduate Teaching Assistant at UMass Amherst. She has been a Guest Curator with UVA since May of this year.
In this interview, Paige speaks about her career path in the arts, her role as a curator, and her goals for the upcoming exhibit.
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Please start by giving a little background about yourself.
Pursuing a life in the arts was not always my plan. I set out under the assumption that I would work in politics. I attended American University to study political science, but after a year of study, I noticed a shift in my thinking. I wasn’t necessarily interested in participating in the political sphere; however, I was drawn to the way that people and culture responded to different geopolitical climates and how cultural exchanges were made as a result of political interaction. I therefore began studying art history, with a geographical focus on Latin America. I had many questions and curiosities about the way in which different Latin American nations and regions interacted with modernity and the resulting artistic production. This line of questioning led me to study modern and contemporary Latin American Women Artists through projects that were informed by identity politics and intersectional feminism.
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What are your responsibilities as curator?
Aside from the formal responsibilities of conceptualizing a show, selecting art, and writing interpretive materials, I think the main goal as a curator is to spark a discourse between the viewer and the art. Art has the wonderful ability to shake people out of their normal train of thought by presenting information through visual stimulation. As long as a viewer is willing to take the time, art should function as a conversation wherein the viewer can stand in front of a piece and allow the questions to flow, using the visual language of the work to seek answers. It is
a curator’s job to select works that have the ability to spark these conversations. By place them together in a way that keeps the dialogue moving by introducing new points of view and perspectives with each succeeding piece. In the end, I believe that success can be measured by if the viewer leaves [the exhibit] with more questions and curiosities than when they entered.
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What is your goal for this exhibit?
My goal for this exhibit is in part to raise awareness about intersectional feminism. A term that at first glance may seem lofty, intersectional feminism, at its core, is the recognition of the multitude of female-identifying people’s experiences, and a call to honor those experiences in the fight for equity among humans. I think that tackling this topic through the work of local artists is particularly poignant, because local art and artists have the ability to communicate with their community on intersectional feminism and women’s rights matters in a very grassroots manner.
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In your opinion, can art influence/affect different social and political movements, such as feminism? If so, how?
Much like the conversation between viewer and work of art, I think that art and politics function as a conversation. In almost every case, art is in some way responding to the current political or social circumstances and in turn, can help to raise awareness or even act as a weapon for cultural change.
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Why is it important to support and showcase local art and artists?
As I had previously mentioned, I think there is something incredibly powerful about the ability of local art and artists to disseminate information to their communities. People tend to trust those that they have commonalities with and sharing a community, especially one as strong as the Boston community, is a powerful connection. Giving local artists a platform to share ideas and personal takes on a topic such as intersectionality will make for a highly relatable and empathetic exhibition.