Fifteenth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

This virtual museum program re-imagines the museum as a virtual safe space for vulnerability, empathy, and friendship through art interpretation and postcard writing among six women participants. In this study, I proposed my own created method of postcard writing rooted in a feminist ethic of care called (fe)mail. This autoethnographic mode of writing invites vulnerability, connection and personal stories as a way to make meaning from works of art. The discussion and postcard making focused around empathy and encouragement for a figure in a work of art we observed and interpreted as a group. The study addressed the following questions; in what ways do virtual museum programs create a sense of community among participants? In what ways might (fe)mail postcard writing work as a tool to cultivate empathy for works of art, the self and others as part of a museum program? The program and the data produced revealed much about the inclusive and comfortable aspects of virtual programming. It also revealed (fe)mail postcard writing as an effective, creative and reflective tool for doing inclusive programming with women who did not know one another. The postcards existed both in the virtual museum space and outside of it, as they made their way around the postal service thus re-thinking what art programming in museums might look like in the future.