You Love Them, but You Don't Know Them: Recognizing and Welcoming Lived Experiences

In 2016, Lisa Gilbert explored issues central to museums: inclusion, diversity, and relevance, which museums seek as they embrace their identities as truly democratic institutions. Yet, museums struggle with these issues because of "loving, knowing ignorance," a feminist stance that Gilbert expands to include museums that assume authority over a subject yet fail to recognize the subject's self-knowledge and agency. Using Gilbert's example, we explore Curator articles which address this ignorance through example and methodology, with a focus on museums who have successfully addressed their own ignorance as it relates to diversity within exhibition practice.