We asked Legend Andoh, an undergraduate student working in SPPO, to sit down with Hallie Fried to discuss her work and overall experience as an undergraduate curator for the Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Art and Cultural Artifacts Research Collection. Hallie Fried graduated spring 2022 with a BA in International Studies with a specialization in Development, a BA in Spanish with a concentration in Latin American Literatures and Cultures, as well as a minor in Public Policy.
The Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Art and Cultural Artifacts Research Collection is supervised by Dr. Michelle Wibbelsman and includes indigenous art and artifacts such as musical instruments, ceramics, festival masks, paintings and more from the Andean and Amazonian regions. Hallie’s interest in Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Arts began when she took Andean Art and Culture with Dr. Michelle Wibbelsman her junior year. She enjoyed the discussion-based course as it “created a very open space for students to read works by both colonial and indigenous perspectives and come up with our own kind of understanding of the implications of hearing about an indigenous community from different perspectives.” Hallie had never studied indigenous art or thought much about it before taking Dr. Michelle Wibbelsman’s class. After being introduced to the artifacts, she wanted to get into the space, learn more about them, and help out. Hallie’s interest resulted in managing and maintaining the collection with the help of other student curators.
As part of her work, Hallie started a podcast series called “Let’s Just Talk”. During this time, she has informal conversations with indigenous artists, educators, and academics about their work and perspectives. “We've kind of gone from the traditional western way of interviews where we're sitting down and you're asking me questions and I'm answering, to just having an open conversation dialogue and that's more of what the podcast is.”
When asked what the most difficult part of her job as a curator is, Hallie said it was “the line between appreciation and appropriation and making sure that we are staying on the side of appreciation.” As someone who does not come from an indigenous background, one of the most important aspects to Hallie is celebrating the work, but not appropriating it.
Hallie was recently accepted to the University of Michigan to pursue a master's degree in Education. She wants to become a high school Social Studies teacher and incorporate alternate literacies into the curriculum, “I want to bring in a pedagogy that focuses on creating an open and inclusive space that recognizes students for where they’re at and where they're going.”
The Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Art and Cultural Artifacts Research Collection is in Hagerty Hall 255.
