On September 25, The Ethnic Theatre Alliance of Ball State University put on a display of “living art”. A museum of 20 or so human exhibits wearing only underwear and a blindfold stood with a marker in each hand between University Theatre and Bracken Library. At the foot of each exhibit was a piece of paper folded in half with five to six words on it. The words on that sheet of paper were the labels that each exhibit had given themselves.
Upon entering the display, students were given a sheet of paper with a word bank. The job was to review the words on the sheet, go to each exhibit, take markers from the hands of the human exhibits and write the labels onlookers thought they held.
There was silence when stepping into the group of human exhibits, and the process became more challenging because each human in the exhibit wore the same thing – a bra and underwear for the girls and only underwear for the boys.
This museum’s purpose was to make a point about the labels students and young adults give one another, in addition to the labels they give themselves. The raw emotions brought by the interactive museum led many students to feel moved after the experience.
“To me, it’s about challenging that automatic judgment you make about a person,” student Lindsey Dice said. “It’s about challenging that inner monologue we all have.”
Others left the human display with more questions than answers – a goal that interactive hosts said will help start more conversations on the topic of body image.
“I wonder how many of these people think they do know [which labels to give] because I’m looking and I couldn’t even guess,” student Abbi Minessale said.
One male student at the event stated, “For every negative word written, I can see 10 positive words on each of their bodies.”
Display organizers hope the exhibit makes visitors wonder about labels and the destruction or restoration of the people they effect.
Authors note: The peace we felt being in the midst of those individuals will last for a long time. I challenge you to label yourself and see just how much you fit in with societies standards.
Photos by Madison Ream