Thursday, December 4, 2008

Detroit Cultural Center Report

By Amy Clark

Although it was an unexpectedly beautiful October day in downtown Detroit, I spent the day inside.

I spent the day at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) and the African American History Museum. I found cold images mixed with inspiration and courage. I saw heartbreaking, frightful things, and yet, I couldn?t look away.

The DIA wasn?t too busy, but I somehow found myself heading straight to the Diego Rivera court. I had seen a small picture of it online and was hoping that it was as incredible as it looked.

Indeed, it was.

The court is bright and the walls are tall. Each wall is beautified by one of Rivera?s murals. The murals, titled, ?Detroit Industry,? were breathtaking. Not because of their size, but because of their detail, colors, and most importantly, their message.

On the north wall, there is a factory scene that portrays workers using all of their strength to produce their product. There is a huge fire at the top of this picture, which the museum indicates is a blast furnace melting metal to make cars. The south wall is also a factory scene, but depicts an assembly line shows workers being watched, either by bosses or the public, and finally, there are the top panels and the upper corners of the court, which portray Rivera?s love for Mother Nature.

The exhibit is very moving in that it shows what seems to be a very true portrayal of the auto industry. The hard work, the bad conditions, and the rich bosses always watching in the corners, are depicted in the exhibit that feels life-like and realistic. In one part of the south mural, long lines of workers are shown with lunch bags, although not everyone has something to eat. They are shown standing a huge parking lot, which makes me assume they are all driving, or are possibly being forced to drive, the cars they produce.

A local woman, whom asked to remain nameless, seemed mesmerized by the top panels of the north and south walls.

?There is just so much going on underneath these pictures,? she explained. ?Yet, they send such a clear and profound message.?

The panels that are located just above the murals depict two women lying down and holding things that come from the earth. Behind them, on hills, are hands reaching out from the soil, also holding things like iron, sand, and coal. Again, Rivera was pointing to Mother Nature and how he believed that everything was derived from the earth.

Although this exhibit was moving, nothing could have prepared me for the emotional rush from the African American History Museum.

Located behind the Detroit Science Center, the museum is one that welcomes people of all ages to view the exhibits. In the main exhibit, there are seven different stations that viewers must follow, but before I could even reach station number one, I was stopped in my tracks.

In order to reach the first station, I had to walk over a bridge. On either side of me were statues of African American people stored in what was supposed to represent the bottom of a slave boat.
They were in shackles, torn shirts, and barefoot, and yet, some of them looked like they were content. I even believe one was smiling, while others had no look of emotion on their faces at all.
After a few moments, I walked left the bridge, and started to read about the history of Africa at station number one. As I walked through the stations, I saw the history of the African American population unfold. It began with slave trading all over the world, then focused specifically in America. Through out each of the exhibits there was hope, but there was also despair. It all seemed so unimaginable.

At one point, while I was looking at the many different and horrible torture devices they used on slaves, a young African American girl, about the age of five, ran up to me.

?That?s what they used to tie them up with,? she said, pointing at the shackles. She then ran away, giggling, to go find her mother.

It broke my heart to see a young girl learning so much about her history, and yet, knowing that once she gets a little bit older, she won?t be able to just laugh and run away and forget what she saw.

Although most of the images I saw were dark and disturbing, I was able to walk out onto the city block and be confident that although many of the displays depicted issues that are still prevalent in today?s society, they aren?t as extreme as they once were. I suppose this is why so many people have hope, because hope creates change, and whether change is positive or negative, it always seems to get the world one step closer to where it needs to be.

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