Meet Our Summer Interns: Gabby, Karina, Leah

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Meet our summer 2021 interns! We look forward to sharing some of the great work they have been doing at the museum. Applications for fall internships are now open.

Gabby Swilley, Salisbury University

“My name is Gabby Swilley (she/her), and I attend Salisbury University as a psychology and art major with a minor in social justice. Originally, I was a graphic design major, but I realized after my first year that it was not my calling. I intend on going to graduate school to obtain a degree in art therapy. I am from Prince George’s County, specifically Fort Washington, MD. I enjoy reading and painting while discovering new music. I also run a small art business through Instagram. I will be working as the Education and Community Engagement intern this summer in the Education and Community Engagement Department with Emma Dreyfuss. Through this internship, I hope to gain the skills to combine my passion for art and helping different individuals from all walks of life. I also hope to gain administrative skills, building new relationships, and working with everyone involved with this program. This summer, I have been focusing on programs centered around art and wellness. I had the opportunity to work on a wellness kit activity centered around a piece of work here at the museum. So far, I have really enjoyed my time and I love the sense of community and the work that I am doing.”

Katrina Auza, Catholic University

“My name is Katrina Auza (she/her), and I am an upcoming senior at The Catholic University of America studying Business Administration with a minor in German Studies. I also have a concentration in HR Management, I look forward to gaining more hands-on experience with The Phillips Collection and meeting new people. This summer, I am working as an HR Intern for the Human Resources Department under Gwen Young. As of now, my work consists of researching policy changes within the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and starting on onboarding projects for the Phillips. This internship has been great because I am gaining hands on experience in HR and learning new things. I also love being able to work in person and walk around the museum.”

Leah Brand, George Washington University

“My name is Leah Brand (she/her), and I am a recent graduate from George Washington University’s Art History Master’s program. My focus of study was on the 19th and 20th centuries with an emphasis on gender and sexuality and the intersection of art and war. I am looking forward to being a part of the summer internship cohort. I am also excited for the opportunity to learn about the ways that museum visitors interact with the collection and how to potentially improve that experience. This summer, I am working in the Visitor Experience Department with Kristen Paral. I am working on analyzing the monthly visitor survey results in addition to special project data and creating detailed reports on those findings. I have also been formulating a new ‘at a glance’ format to present this information in an engaging and accessible way for all Phillips staff.”

Meet Our Summer Interns: Amanda, Billie, Ellie

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Meet our summer 2021 interns! We look forward to sharing some of the great work they have been doing at the museum. Applications for fall internships are now open.

Amanda Lee, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

“My name is Amanda Lee (they/them), and I am currently going into my 5th year at Cal Poly SLO as an architecture student with a minor in art history. I got the chance to work with the Phillips briefly in the spring and am excited to be here again. This summer I will be working with Yolanda Hester in the DEAI Department, and am looking forward to learning more about how to implement DEAI initiatives to improve the future of museums. I am hoping that I can use what I learn this summer as inspiration for my thesis next year. I have worked on a variety of tasks such as editing an internal newsletter to collecting information on the Phillips’s partnerships and internships. Eventually I will be assisting with the Training, Development, and Learning series for staff. I have really enjoyed working with my cohorts and learning about how the museum industry functions. This internship has also inspired me to help shift the way museums operate by implementing DEAI goals to improve the role of museums in our society moving forward.”

Billie Smith, Cornell University

“My name is Billie Smith (they/them), and I am a student at the School of Hotel Administration with a concentration in Marketing and Human Resources at Cornell University. I am a DC native with a passion for social justice organizations and non-profit organizations. I am looking forward to gaining some valuable work experience at The Phillips Collection. I am also excited to work on social media projects and training development. Through this internship, I hope to learn a lot about my own interests and how different departments solve problems. This summer, I am working as a Rotations Intern in Various Departments under DEAI Manager Yolanda Hester. First, I spent time with Community Engagement to introduce kids to art though nature sketches and stamp making. Next, I spent time with the Archival department to help with the file digitization process of historical letters. I got the opportunity to work with the Conservation Department on mural maintenance and recording the conditions of incoming art installations. My time at the Phillips has opened my eyes to the beauty of the museum industry. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with such a dynamic group of people.”

Ellie Benedict, American University

“My name is Ellie Benedict (she/her), and I am a graduate student at American University in the Arts Management program. My focus in this program is on funding and fundraising for the arts, so I am exceedingly excited to be The Phillips Collection’s Director’s Office Major Gifts Intern this summer. I am working with Emily Doll and Caitlin Hoerr in the Development & Director’s Office Department. I want to see everything about what a campaign looks like for a museum like the Phillips. I am also the Business Manager for a DIY ceramic art studio in Michigan; I have my own artistic practice which involves ceramic and fiber arts. Besides seeing a campaign in action at a museum of this size, I am looking forward to getting more involved in the local art world through this internship, as well as participating in an organization that uses art activities for social impact. This summer I am working on the Capital Campaign. I am helping the Development Department identify potential donors, reconnect with past art donors, and run VIP events. I am learning so much about how all the departments of a museum work together and I love that I get to see how our patrons’ passion for art becomes support for the museum’s work.”

Decoding Victor Ekpuk’s New Installation—What Do You See?

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2021-22 Sherman Fairchild Fellow Shiloah Coley speaks with Victor Ekpuk about the sociopolitical signs and symbols in his centennial commission.

At first glance, it might appear as though Victor Ekpuk has transformed the main visitor entrance of the Phillips into a jubilant setting, switching out the old taupe color for bright white and yellow, contrasting the black marks in his installation and illuminating the space. However, one would be amiss to stop looking there—to stop seeing. The installation, State of the Union: Things have fallen apart, can the center still hold?, sets out to do something much more than simply beautifying the entryway. The title is a hint at that.

Victor Ekpuk’s new installation in the Phillips’s admissions lobby. Photo: Lee Stalsworth

The signs and symbols are indicative of Ekpuk’s reimagining of ancient Nigerian script, Nsibidi. Printed on adhesive vinyl, the script floods the walls of the museum’s vestibule, combining abstracted and representational elements. Ekpuk shared, “It’s a metaphor for America itself. America the beautiful. The America for freedom. The America of endless possibilities and so on. But then you look under the belly of America and you see all of the stuff that’s really ugly.”

The piece is the first of three site-specific commissions by DC-based artists as part of the centennial celebration at the Phillips. Ekpuk is no newcomer to large immersive installations. He has had large-scale pieces in a host of other places, including Divinity, a 30 x 18-foot chalk mural depicting his signature signs and symbols, at the North Carolina Museum of Art. But to do something in the city he calls home struck him. “To be able to contribute my ideas, my thoughts, in the community that I live in . . . I live here, but I do so many things outside of here,” said Ekpuk. “It’s like putting a marker in my city; I actually live here, you guys,” he chuckled.

Although he calls DC home, the stamp of his mother country, Nigeria, is ever present in his work. Ekpuk, a recipient of a Smithsonian Fellowship, is internationally renowned for his paintings, drawings, and sculptures, which reimagine Nsibidi to create his own unique language of abstraction. Ekpuk draws from African and global contemporary art discourse to explore the human condition. While State of the Union: Things have fallen apart, can the center still hold? is meant for everyone to consider their own narratives in the shared city, Victor offers a glimpse at his experiences through the symbols present in the work. Victor unpacked some of them with me.

Symbol in Victor Ekpuk’s State of the Union

“This symbol for many years, as Black people in America, especially as a Black male, has become a language that we have learned—hands up, don’t shoot,” said Victor. As a Black American myself, I had guessed the meaning. Although I’ve never seen one like this before, when I sat with the piece for a moment, it was as though an alarm went off indicating its meaning after a minute or so. The prevalence of police brutality, specifically in its disproportionate effects on Black communities across America, seems to have primed my brain. 

Victor shares a common experience many Black parents have felt: “I have an adult son and there’s not a day that I don’t worry about him when he’s out of the house.” Similarly, I worry about some of the childhood friends I view as brothers who I, too, am often concerned others might view as a threat one day. Yet, there’s the possibility of salvation in this symbol—the hand-like figure in the top left comes downward, possibly reaching toward the raised hand of the central figure—“You know, in a way maybe that’s the salvation, the savior,” said Victor.

Symbol in Victor Ekpuk’s State of the Union

While the symbols serve as important reminders of the realities of the state of our union, Ekpuk also finds room for hope. “In the midst of all of this strife, I’m not giving up hope that there is no love, that people are not coming together,” said Ekpuk. “And especially for me a call for unity, because in the midst of all of this negativity there are windows of people coming together. There’s a window for love.” The two gender-neutral figures kissing is a testament to the human condition, a call for love perhaps. Victor noted the nation can’t work if we don’t come together as a people.

Victor hopes the piece invites others to think about their narratives and how that influences how they interpret the symbols, and if they choose to give the work a better look—to try to see.

When you visit the piece at the main visitor entrance, please share with us on social media the symbols you find and what they mean to you using #Phillips100.