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elevation for foster youth museum traveling exhibit
elevation for foster youth museum traveling exhibit
2016

The Foster Youth Museum (FYM) is the largest collection of art and artifacts relating to youth experiences in foster care. In 2015, FYM produced the traveling exhibit Lost Childhoods. The exhibit intended to educate the public and policy makers on the realities of foster care in the United States in hopes of igniting change, while providing the platform for Foster Youth to share their stories in their own voice and heal from past traumas.

The exhibit consisted of framed photographs, objects from the FYM collection and printed text panels. Many of the artifacts are fragile and in poor condition, given that they were once the
personal belongings of Foster Youth who did not always have a safe space to protect themselves or their things. At the time, FYM lacked sufficient resources to properly care for and preserve the objects in their collection and did not have a permanent space for exhibiting. In order to continue the traveling exhibition program without further damaging their objects, I collaborated with the FYM curator, Ray Busolari, to create an exhibition of 10 posters showcasing photographs, artifacts and stories from the collection.

I designed a system of posters consisting of three sizes, each of which would present one photograph or single object against a black backdrop. It was important to maintain the solemn feeling that the exhibit generated, so I applied a limited color palette and minimal design aesthetic.