On a recent visit to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston my family and I found something a bit unsettling in the exhibit “Power of the People: Art and Democracy” : an interactive piece that created a mind map,collaging words visitors associated with “democracy.” Included in were words ranging from names of politicians and philosophers, to adjectives of both positive and negative connotations, to countries of origin. Naturally, we wanted to participate in the collective art-making so I typed “Haiti,” and despite several variations was met with the same response: “please try a different word.” Knowing the history of […]