Nov 25, 2016–Jun 29, 2017
I was five months old when the twin towers came down, yet this moment has shaped who I am today as a first-generation Muslim American.
It started with a question: “What do we inherit, embody, and echo from previous generations?”
What emerged were more questions, conversations, and discoveries. The resulting audio stories share a layered quilt of myth and memory from the perspective of Bay Area teens in 2016. Exploring their own family narratives allowed these students to claim and understand how moments of the past transform, beyond memories, into relationships and outlooks in the present.
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition From Generation to Generation: Inherited Memory and Contemporary Art, What We Hold is the fourth in a series of installations highlighting the experiences and perspectives of The Museum’s Teen Art Connect interns. Ten interns created individual audio segments, featuring an interview with a family member as well as their own ideas about how this person and particular memory has shaped their own identity formation. An eleventh segment, “The Story of What We Hold” provides a view into the process of creating the audio stories, including clips from the workshops with professional storyteller, Josh Healey, and radio producer, Liz Mak. The high school students were responsible for every aspect of the recordings, from initial interviews to final edits.
In presenting this work, The Contemporary Jewish Museum celebrates the valuable contributions that young people make to the creative landscape of the Bay Area.
Teen Programs are made possible by major support from U.S. Bank Foundation. Additional generous supporters include Macy’s and the Ira A. Roschelle MD Family Foundation.