Zimmerli Intern Finds Meaning in Museum's Accessibility Efforts

Mason Gross senior Gabrielle Carmella is an art major with disabilities who is working on an exhibition by artists with disabilities from around the world

Rutgers University-New Brunswick senior Gabrielle Carmella is a unique student with a unique internship opportunity.

The 21-year-old, who attends the Mason Gross School of the Arts and is pursuing a fine arts degree with a concentration in photography and printmaking with a minor in women's and gender studies, has spent her summer interning at the Zimmerli Art Museum and will continue through December.

Carmella - a member of the Douglass Residential College who describes herself as neurodivergent and has undergone multiple surgeries and months of physical therapy to address a physical condition known as leg-length discrepancy - has been working with Zimmerli officials in preparation for the museum's fall exhibition. Smoke & Mirrors, which is on display through Dec. 22, features the works of 14 artists with disabilities and is focused on the theme of accessibility.

"I feel like a lot of times people will do internships like, 'Oh, it'll look good on my resume,' or 'Oh, it pays well,' but I just really want to do this," said Carmella, who also is a member of the Cap and Skull honor society at Rutgers. "It probably will look great on my resume, but for me it was more so actually getting the exposure - and getting to see artists who are like me."

The Deptford, N.J., resident said she performed a number of different tasks for the museum. For example, she assisted in creating artist biographies "that will be used to better understand the intersectional identities of the participants," she said.

Another task was community outreach.

Rutgers senior Gabrielle Carmella assisted in creating artist biographies for the Zimmerli Art Museum's fall exhibition.

"I work on finding like-minded organizations at Rutgers that are interested in collaborating," Carmella said. "Lastly, I aid in the logistics of accessibility and working to make sure we have all types of access levels and needs met so our exhibition can be enjoyed by all."

Carmella said she has enjoyed working with artistic scholars and activists, "which is a unique undergrad experience."

"It is also such an honor to get to showcase a gallery with artists just like myself," Carmella said. "Coming into the art world, I often felt like no one else was like me and was discouraged. However, getting to assist in an exhibition with over a dozen other disabled artists each with their own story and practice is such a rewarding experience."

Carmella said she learned about the internship through Nicole Simpson, the Zimmerli's associate curator of prints and drawings, during a class visit to the art museum with Didier William, assistant professor of expanded print at Mason Gross.

"She was telling me about how there was going to be a position in the spring or the summer for a curatorial opening for the Smoke & Mirrors exhibition, which is all about disability and access," said Carmella, who added that she had just underwent major leg surgery and "was dealing with a lot of inaccessibility" issues.

"I was fully nonambulatory, which means I couldn't walk and was using mobility aids, and I was finding that a lot of things on campus were not accessible, especially things in the art world," she said. "So, when she told me that this position was opening, I was like, 'I really, really want to do this' because this is pretty much what I want to do with my life: disability, art, intersectional identity, all of those things."

Carmella's internship has proved meaningful to the Zimmerli, too.

"Drawing upon her extensive experience at Rutgers, Gabrielle has collaborated on a range of projects for her internship, including exhibition research, connecting with university partners and sharing accessibility resources," Simpson said. "Student engagement is vital to the mission of the Zimmerli - and Gabrielle's diligence, empathy and lived experience as an artist with disabilities have proved invaluable in organizing our exhibition Smoke & Mirrors."

Carmella said she is drawn to photography as it captures memories.

I get to be a part of a show that will challenge people's negative perspectives about disability and help people appreciate the beauty of access.

Gabrielle Carmella

Rutgers-New Brunswick senior

"Photography specifically has always been just my go-to, really - like a little kid with a camera type thing," she said. "And then I started taking it more seriously in high school when the pandemic happened. I really liked taking photos and it helped me remember things. Before, I had a really bad time remembering parts of myself. I was like, 'I don't remember this dance recital, I don't remember this surgery.' So, now I will take pictures of these and memorialize and commemorate them so that I can both go on and move on with my life and also still remember the things I have."

Carmella said she initially was a design concentration before switching to printmaking "because I really liked how print was so tactile and I liked that it could only be done by me. It is your hand that's doing the carving. It's your pressure, your strength, your energy that goes into a piece. I liked that digital photo aspect and also that physical print aspect. So, I decided to do both. They are both processes that together let me holistically express myself and are I really enjoy both."

William recalled having Carmella in two of his classes, both focusing on printmaking.

"I think she's fantastic," the professor said. "In both classes, I was impressed by her ambition and I was impressed by her fearlessness when it came to combining materials to come up with objects that were quite powerful and moving.

"I encourage this of all the students, but especially the students who are double concentrations. I always want them to think about what one medium can add to the other that they can't do individually. And that's something I think Gabrielle excelled at. She was always keen on shaking the sort of instantaneity of photography and beautifully combining it with the materiality of printmaking to come up with these objects that were lyrical, that were mythological, and still deeply personal. She was a joy to work with."

Carmella said she's found her time interning at the Zimmerli and helping prepare for the Smoke & Mirrors exhibition a meaningful experience and can't wait to continue for the duration of the exhibition.

"Fourteen different artists in the show and they each have a different disability," she said. "None of them have the same as me, but they all have some type of impairment or a roadblock in their art making and they all tackle it differently. And I think it's really interesting to see how they work so that way I can be like, 'Oh, this is how they worked. This is how I can work.'"

Carmella added, "I get to be a part of a show that will challenge people's negative perspectives about disability and help people appreciate the beauty of access."

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