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The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is a globally recognized institution with a reputation for bringing decisive scholarship and illuminating curation to the public. For the exhibition “Curated by Teens: Death as a Constant Companion,” that scholarship is coming from five local students who worked with the support of the MFA to fully realize an exhibition of Dutch and Flemish artworks.
During the 2023-24 school year, the teens worked with the MFA’s Curatorial Study Hall program and the museum’s Center for Netherlandish Art to produce the exhibition. The students, Robert Cronin, Rafaela Datel, Alayssa Diaz, Micah LeBlanc and Nicole Wu, developed the theme, selected the artworks, wrote the curatorial text and designed the galleries independently with support from Christopher Atkins, the Van Otterloo-Weatherbie director of the CNA and Jordan Cromwell, interpretative planner.
“Curated by Teens – Death as a Constant Companion,” a collaboration between MFA Teen Programs and the Center for Netherlandish Art exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. William A. Coolidge Gallery PHOTO: © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“People are very surprised when they find out that high school students curated an exhibition on such a taboo subject,” said Diaz, a student at Cristo Rey Boston High School in Dorchester.
The exhibition explores the concept of death through a series of paintings, prints and drawings. Most are from the MFA’s collection of Dutch and Flemish works, but others are drawn from Germany, France and other nations. Some pieces reflect directly on human and animal mortality, such as a print of a human skull surrounded by skeletons or a painting of a butcher shop with a flayed cow dominating the scene. Other elements explore death through the slow decay of old paper or the cracked oil paint that even conservation can’t preserve.
Cromwell, who worked with the students on interpreting the works, says it was refreshing to see how different their process was from that of longtime curators entrenched in museum culture.
“Curated by Teens – Death as a Constant Companion,” a collaboration between MFA Teen Programs and the Center for Netherlandish Art exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. William A. Coolidge Gallery
PHOTO: © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“Not often would a curator start the introduction of an exhibition by mentioning a Netflix special,” said Cromwell. “Even starting from that like, pop culture touch point, it felt as though there is something different about the way that they talked about and related to the art.”
“Curated by Teens: Death as a Constant Companion” is on view through November 30.
For Diaz, this wasn’t just an opportunity to explore the art world further, but to illustrate that the museum can be a welcoming and beneficial space for folks her age.
“Museums tend to have a very prestigious reputation, which many teens are intimidated by, but on the other hand, many museums can be a safe space for teens,” Diaz said. “Me working at the MFA has encouraged many of my friends … who haven’t gone to the MFA to go.”
The Curatorial Study Hall regularly involves local students in the museum’s processes, but Cromwell says this particular exhibition was one of the most immersive. Rarely do students get to completely realize their own exhibition from start to finish. It lent the students a sense of independence and trust in their artistic instincts.
“As a society, I often feel as though we diminish or just underestimate what teens can think of, what teens can do,” said Cromwell. “Giving the people who are essentially going to be our future, a chance to do their own show, talk about what’s relevant to them and communicate that through art is just a great move.”
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