Rather than starting from the beginning and providing a
chronological progress of my professional career, I would like to start writing
this bio from the present and reflect back in order to peer into an uncertain
future. After having had a professional career –first as the editor of an art
magazine, second as a curator at a contemporary arts institution (both in
northern California)– I made the decision to go back to school to get a PhD. I
had always wanted to go for a doctorate and decided that it was the right time
to go back to school during the economic downturn of 2008. That same year, I
had made a move that I had been wanting to make for years – I moved to New York
city. Soon afterward, I came to the difficult realization that I was
overqualified for the very limited employment opportunities that were available
to me in a city that was saturated with talented arts professionals from across
the world, all competing for the same jobs.
As a curator, there comes a point in your career where you
need a considerable degree creative autonomy in order to move forward and
continue to be stimulated by your work. If you are a salaried employee of an
arts institution that will allow you this degree of autonomy, you should
consider yourself lucky, because ideally, the institution will provide you with
the professional and financial support to realize your vision. The more
experience you gain in your field and the further you move ahead in your career
however, it becomes clear that the positions that can grant you both autonomy
and support become fewer and harder to find. After moving to New York, I looked
for professional opportunities that were intellectually challenging and would
satisfy my inquiries. I didn’t want to sacrifice those pursuits in exchange for
the ability to support myself in this very expensive city. When I received a
fully funded invitation to attend the doctoral program in Visual and Cultural
Studies at the University of Rochester, I jumped at the opportunity, even
though the program was not in New York City. It meant having to temporarily
leave a city filled with close friends and that truly felt like home.
Transitioning back into the life of a student hasn’t been
easy. It has meant having to live on less money than I have ever lived on
before. In terms of managing a heavy workload, it has also been the toughest,
most grueling and challenging experience of my life. Myself and my colleagues
in the doctoral program jokingly compare the process of getting a doctorate to
the experience of going into military boot camp, where the individual gets
stripped down to nothing (ideologically) in order to be built back up again.
But I have to admit that the experience has been challenging in all the right
ways. Three years into the program, my perspectives on art and politics have
shifted profoundly. I know that if I decide to go back into a curatorial
career, the types of shows I will arrange will be very different than the
exhibitions I have curated in the past. I don’t know where this road will lead
me – whether it will lead to an academic career or back into the field of
museum work. I may even end up in a totally different career track than where I
originally anticipated I would go.
If anything, I’m hoping it will afford me a greater number of options, which is
essential in a challenging economic climate where arts funding is often the
first to get cut off of government, corporate, and individual donors’
budgets.
28.01.2012
