30 Jun 2021
‘Embracing Diversity, Inclusion and “Diffability” in our Art Museums’
ART et al.

Revolutions never start at the top. If we dare to dream of a more loving country – kinder, more compassionate, more cooperative, more respectful, more inclusive, more egalitarian, more harmonious, less cynical – there's only one way to start turning that dream into a reality: each of us must live as if this is already that country. —Hugh McKay in The Kindness Revolution

As COVID-19 and its variant strains continue to wreak havoc on the world, and as I write from Naarm / Melbourne during our fourth lockdown, I am struggling to feel the positives that have emerged from the restrictions the pandemic has placed upon our daily lives. While in no way wanting to diminish the severity of the impacts of the disease on whole communities – illness, death, economic insecurity, social isolation, declining mental health – the slow time of lockdown has equally provided space for contemplation and reflection. It has enabled us to reassess the sense of busyness and ‘progress’ underpinning Western notions of success, to interrogate our motivations and values, and to question how we want to be and act in the world. However, once all the baking, making and Netflix binging has ended, what will we learn and retain from this time? Will we allow it to change us for the better, or will we simply return to life as ‘normal’? Read