Object Stories: Invisible Me - Holly Oberg
630 views · Published 8 February 2018 · 3:28 · Indexed 4 November 2026
Channel: Portland Art Museum · 2018 · Education
About Object Stories: Object Stories is a personal storytelling project and exhibition series hosted by the Portland Art Museum. Upon launch in 2010, Object Stories became a first of its kind in the museum field and continues to innovate today. The project has grown the application of storytelling with objects from a way to interrupt the traditional authoritative museum voice into a platform where Portland and the Pacific Northwest’s many communities can directly address issues affecting their lives. Object Stories helps drive the Portland Art Museum to become a safe and responsive space open for dialogue, conversation, and the exchange of ideas. Object Stories thematic exhibitions change three to four times a year and are accompanied by a rotating selection of multi-sensory activities and “calls to action." Object Stories are available as audio visual slideshows on iPads in the gallery next to their storyteller's objects. https://portlandartmuseum.org/objectstories/ About the exhibition: Invisible Me February 10 – June 17, 2018 Examining invisible disabilities draws our attention beyond what we immediately notice about a person. Invisible disability is an umbrella term for a wide range of chronic physical, cognitive, and neurological conditions causing a person to struggle in daily activities. Because symptoms of these conditions are not often observed, those with invisible disabilities are easily judged, dismissed, and left feeling unvalidated. Outdated beliefs about disability have led to a false standard of ‘normal’ in our society that privileges non-disabled individuals. Therefore, those living with invisible disabilities are forced to weigh the risk of repercussions if they choose to outwardly identify. Some are able to be open with their condition. Others choose to walk in its shadow, and more volley in between. Invisible Me was co-created by those individuals whose stories are in this exhibition–Justin Allen, Holly Oberg, Sarah Mc Dermed, Micah Read, and Greg Bee. Each participant’s story is an account of how they came to terms with very personal conditions and figured out how to move forward. Their objects and stories are combined with visitor reflections to question conventional perceptions of disability and its impact in our lives.
