Post and Courier: EDITOR’S PICK – International African American Museum enhanced by strategic collection of objects
A contemporary work of art — a helmet made of cowrie shells — is displayed at the International African American Museum.
A history museum must strike a balance. Multiple balances, really — between the past and present, the good and bad, the beautiful and ugly; between suffering and accomplishment, exploitation and self-determination.
To tell this history, a narrative must be rendered and another balance struck, this time between the textual and illustrative. Visitors learn by reading and by looking. They contemplate the words as they admire the objects.