Curated by Rachel Schultz
I am looking at writer Ruth Borchard’s (1910-2000) personal collection through the perspective of an undergraduate, American student spending her first time living and working in another country. I hope you will engage with me as I experience life as a newcomer in London and enjoy the curation of my exhibit, Obscurity.
I have selected 20 works from the collection, featuring artists such as Gideon Rubin, an immigrant artist from Israel, British artist Rachel Ara, and Irish painter William Crozier, all of whom show their experiences with anonymity through their self-portraits.
Curating this exhibit has challenged many of my ideas of what I anticipated my experience in London would be like. Would my view of the Borchard collection be different if I hadn’t had this experience as a non-native? As you view the exhibition, try to capture the essence of what I felt like as an outsider to this community and, perhaps, it may question some of your own personal experiences.
