Change Begins With You(th)

Change Begins With You(th) exhibit was a reinterpretation of the Museum’s 30,000 object collection through the lens of BCM’s Rapid Response Collecting Task Force (RRCTF), a group of high school students who intern in the collection department at the Museum. The RRCTF engaged in “rapid-response collecting,” a method of gathering artifacts in response to current events, with a focus on exploring the experiences and people of BCM’s Central Brooklyn community.

The exhibition featured items that directly responded to major moments of 2017-18 and revolve around themes of gentrification, criminal justice, gender equity, and racism. Objects acquired included posters from the New York City “March for Our Lives” protest in March 2018; the suit Councilman Jumaane Williams was wearing when he was arrested while protesting the deportation of immigration lawyer Ravi Ragbir; and a clear tote bag belonging to playwright, poet, and prison activist Liza Jessie Peterson, which she carried into Rikers Island prison daily while teaching poetry to youth inmates.