https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e-m3gnjKW4
The clouds masked the sky with gray. I had assumed before leaving my house that a rain coat would suffice for my outfit. At 11:00, I texted my best friend, Miriam, “Hey, I’m on my way. It’s cold, wear a coat.” I had arrived from my neighborhood in Ozone park to her apartment building in Sunnyside. We hopped onto the 7 train at 46st-Bliss Street Station.
We decided that we would take the N train to the New Museum. So, now we were chopping it up on the subway seats. Miriam and I were making up for the lost time in between our last meeting. We both agree, “College is time-consuming, depraving, pressuring but worthwhile.” She and I had fallen so deep into our conversation that before we knew it, we had missed our stop. Prince Street was our stop, but the N train was heading to Barclays Center. We saw the Brooklyn Bridge from across the water, flickering across our eyes as the train zoomed by. I saw this as my chance to catch the Brooklyn bridge from another angle, across another bridge and photographed it; click went my camera. This prompted us to take the B train uptown to Grand Street.
Emerging from Grand Street station, the street itself was bustling with people. The commotion had left the rain tapping the concrete on mute. Small migrant owned shops were sewed into the block. “Ooh! Look at this little shop, so many lights!” Miriam exclaimed, it caught her eye like a moth to a flame. The lights danced on my camera screen, click. The paths were small and narrow, and after making a left turn we arrived to a sleek gray building titled, “New Museum.” “I would start from the top floor down,” said the Curator after handing our tickets.
I have never been excited to go to a museum, and after this excursion, the feeling remains the same. Having Miriam at my side influenced me to look at works of art closely. She is one of the smartest people in the world to me. I was doing my best to break them down into a thought, because I never take the time to read that very long piece of text explaining the whole exhibit. I noticed how I looked towards the other individuals gazing at canvases on the wall. “What the hell do they make of this?” I thought to myself. I have always felt as though I am behind others, even when I am in the same place as they are.
We reached an exhibit that contained small sculptures, containing a small resemblance to the sculptures my mom brought home from Colombia. These sculptures followed a similar theme towards the Spanish colonization in the Americas. One of which had a woman holding her infant on top of a building, titled, “Center of Internment of Foreigners.” The building was flooding with the severed heads of colonizers. Another, with two children sitting on a ledge and a saying painted on the rim “they wanted us buried, but they did not know we were seeds.” “Wow!” Miriam said with a smile, as she explained this piece, I could feel my appreciation for this work of art grow. Therein I appreciated having her there, because I wouldn’t have taken the time to use my first tongue (Spanish) to translate that saying.
We preceded to walk into the next exhibit, a collection of canvases were pasted all over the walls, high and low. The paintings all shared the same color scheme. Thinking back on it now, that room felt like it was closing in on us by the second. “This feels morbid,” I said. “I think the person [artist] wanted it this way,” Miriam responded. One photo stuck out to me, it was a drawing of two legs walking while it was carrying a ton of things all held together by strings. “That’s me,” I say to Miriam pointing to the work. I carried a lot of things through my life, and now I bear the weight of my mother on my shoulders. It couldn’t feel more relative to what I am going through now.
This excursion was not for the sake of going to museum for fun. For me, it was the opportunity to experience something new with someone that I genuinely love and care for. The New Museum was insightful. That is all I can say about it. However, going to the Museum, talking to Miriam and making new memories together is what made this excursion, one for the books.
Daniella, I really enjoyed watching the video you posted and following your trip to the New Museum. You do a nice job of sharing your experience and telling us a little about the art you saw. I think that people who have never been to the New Museum might have benefited from a bit more information of what the museum is and what kind of art it exhibits. I haven’t been there in a while, but I always find their exhibits interesting and thought provoking. One of the things I liked best about your report was your comments about your friend! It is a lovely thing to be able to have adventures with friends whom we admire and whose company we enjoy! It sounds like it was a fun day!
JS
I enjoyed reading your trip report Daniella! I really liked how you expressed your opinion about your trip to the museum. I’ve been to the New Museum before as well and it honesty wasn’t all that to me either, the only reason I enjoyed it was because I had good company. I love the fact that you included a video of your trip and I think that it gave a great view of what your experience was like and the museum itself. It was really interesting how you compared one of the photos to yourself and were able to see similarities within it. I also liked the sculpture exhibit that you mentioned in your paper, it’s cool that your mom had similar sculptures like the ones from the museum.