Beyond the Wall Text: Contextualizing Carpeaux’s Why Born Enslaved! | by Cleveland Museum of Art | CMA Thinker | Sep, 2022
By Key Jo Lee, associate curator of American art
Some of the reasons why curators place certain objects in certain places in the galleries are very apparent. This is by design. Typically, the goal is for each artwork to tell some part of a larger story that illuminates a time period, an artistic style, a theme, a person, and at times a blend of them all. The challenge is that we must convey that information within the well-informed parameters set by the Cleveland Museum of Art’s department of interpretation, which sets the museum’s standards for length and accessible content and language, among other important endeavors. As a curator, it is my job to provide factual and interesting information that has the potential to engage every visitor. This is no short order! Were we to place every line of research on the walls of the gallery, there would be no room