Teen-Curated Exhibition Looks at Coming-of-Age Themes

Pelham Art Center (PAC)’s current Mental Fragments exhibition, on view through May 7, dives into themes that look at how people grow and experience change throughout school to adulthood. Appropriately, the show was curated by members of the Center’s Teen Arts Council.

Mental Fragments covers a wide variety of artistic media from more than 60 artists. Each takes on the show’s themes in their own way, from Béatrice Coron’s dark and intricate paper cut art to Jingyi Chen’s watercolor and pastel paintings.

This curatorial experience gave teens the opportunity to choose, from a pool of 75 submissions, which artists would be included. They were also in charge of promoting the event and coming up with a theme and title.

Says PAC’s director, Charlotte Mouquin: “They are working on a collaborative project and the real magic is going from something that is just an idea into a physical thing, an event. People are showing up in a room and that’s what’s important. It gets everyone off their phones and into a room to experience life together.”

Fifteen teens, including Ghost Antelmi, were involved in the curation process. Antelmi, has been creating digital art for a few years, and their work recently expanded into acrylic paint and charcoal, but this was their first time curating an event. “It’s a whole process that people don’t realize…Choosing pieces, picking people, and figuring out how to [arrange] the pieces to make it visually appealing…” Antelmi’s favorite part of the process was “looking through everyone’s pieces,” as it gave the opportunity to see other artists’ works and inspirations.

Mouquin adds that she worked closely with the Council to guide them through this process along the way: “I personally mentored [this] group of teens, beginning in the fall of 2022, to discuss exhibition themes, host an open call and create some exhibition parameters. The teens thought it was important to make this exhibition accessible by including artists of all ages. The theme of coming of age, going through changes, and the concepts of home and leaving home were all front-of-mind [for them].”

Says Antelmi: “I feel like to be an artist, you need to understand the special processes [involved with] doing your art. It’s not just making your art. It’s promoting your art; you have to record your art; you have to network and things like that. As someone who really wants to be an artist, it’s really important for me to be learning that.”

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Pelham Art Center: Ain Maule, Kate Fauvell & Iman Tuan