Employed intentionally or not, these design choices undermine efforts to create an inclusive sense of welcome for both staff and visitors.
To address this, we focus on three areas of exhibition design and development as possible sites of decolonization: look and feel, narrative, and visitor experience. In each of these areas we offer examples of how the colonial imagination influences exhibition design, strategies for noticing when we are veering into colonial choices, and ideas for interrupting those impulses in order to make our museum spaces more welcoming and equitable for visitors.
We, the authors, offer our unique perspectives: Adrienne Lalli Hills, citizen of Wyandotte Nation, brings her expertise as an exhibition developer and learning professional; Margaret Middleton, a white settler, brings their expertise as an exhibition designer focused on inclusive museum practice.
What would it look like to design exhibition spaces that not only tolerate but prioritize the desires and expressions of the people whose cultures are in the collections? Together, we hope to activate your imagination beyond the limits of the colonial construct.
