Fragmented Reality and Decolonization: A MET Museum Reflection

When I took the AP Art History class during my exchange year in high school in Chicago, I had only thought about art for its aesthetic. I remember the class would have us do matrices where we had to analyze the physical detail of an artwork and its functions in history. During our museum visits to some of Chicago’s art museums, I was drawn mostly to the artwork’s pattern, texture, and colors– not their raison d’être, for example. Yet, as I kicked off my career as an educator in Indonesia, I began to look at art from a more critical perspective. When I took my students on field trips to art or historical museums, I questioned why I only know so much about western artists, but not Indonesian or Asian ones? Where are the female artists throughout my art history study? How do I teach my students that art can symbolize so much of society, but it also can skew our reality? <a href="https://medium.com/@hasnaanaya/fragmented-reality-and-decolonization-a-met-museum-reflection-f753f9a5f25e">Website</a>