MoMa - Private Lives Public Spaces

Elida Abreu
Imagery, Identity, and Culture
February 21, 2020
MoMa - Private Lives Public Spaces

Visiting the Moma was one of the most liberating and extensive museum adventures I have ever embarked on. It felt very intimate and personal to serve as a witness into countless realms within the past full of strange individuals I will never encounter. Their recorded stories, short as they may be, provided context into the histories and dimensions of humanity throughout many walks of life young and old. Throughout Judith Howard's article, where she explores the Social Psychology of Identities, she mentions how certain studies show more successful attainment of a positive social identity for those in dominant social groups. I believe that this significance of this discovery was very evident in most of the videos in this exhibition. This point proves how humans have this kind of hive mind when it comes to their societal acceptance and customs.

The Yoshiko and Akio Morita Gallery was a pleasure to digest and enjoy. I enjoyed the power and heavy involvement that movements and protests attracted throughout the 80s and 90s. The videos were very revealing of a past full of civilian activism, systematic injustices, and peace-seeking citizens. They reminded me of how Howard mentioned the concept of the interactionist approach which relies on the concept of role identities, the characters a person develops as an occupant of particular social positions, explicitly linking social structures to a person. As a collective, a group fighting for change requires someone to act as the head and develop as an occupant of a particular social group and position. Interactionalism is fundamental in the human experience and it always has been.

Another home video that specifically stuck out to me featured the hectic Walt Disney Strike of 1941. These protests began as a direct correlation to Disney's mistreatment of its employees for many years. The video did not directly show the personal identities of the protesters and who they were before the protest but that was purposeful. However, examining what I saw through Howard’s piece on identity, the footage of this protest does a good job of masking the complete identities of most of the individuals because the perspective is fixed on a selected few who particularly suffered. The animators of Disney were at the heels of their corporate bosses, this video was a way for them to tell their side of the story and expand and share their work-related injustices so that change can occur.

I thoroughly enjoyed Charles L. Turner's footage of 6th Avenue, the Subway, and Manhattan in 1942-1944. The chaotic bustle of human life in New York has always fascinated me and made me curious about people's interpersonal lives. It is no surprise that even in the 40's New York was as active as ever but it was an interesting feeling as if I am looking back in time due to how different this landscape was. The old-looking cars, oddly fashioned citizens, and historically old buildings felt very nostalgic to experience for someone who constantly visits new york city.


This exhibition showed that while the sole purpose of displaying ancient home videos during their time could have been for the preservation of that time it can also serve for educational purposes for later generations filled with curiosity. The audience can be anyone depending on where these films end up being broadcast. I believe that the people in these videos had no idea to be seen in a certain way by others, they were naturally and blindly living their everyday lives within these videos. Hence the name "Private Lives, Public Spaces”, this kind of footage was meant to serve as a historic index of some degree for others later on who would be curious about actually visualizing the real, raw, monumental and pivotal societal moments in the lives of others from the past.