Embracing Impermanence: Reflecting On My Time at SAMA
- Isabelle Zamundu
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
When I first began my internship, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to learn. My academic interests had long revolved around the ways museums and curators present art, especially work that exists outside traditional Western art historical narratives. I wanted to better understand how contemporary institutions could display visual culture without repeating the distorted frameworks created through colonial excavation and institutionalization. More specifically, I was interested in how street art (a form rooted in public space, community, and impermanence) could exist within a museum while still honoring its original context.
At the time, I also imagined my future research taking shape around global street art, graffiti, and questions of institutionalization. Those interests brought me here, but the internship ultimately expanded my understanding in ways I never expected.
One of the most valuable skills I developed had little to do with art history itself. I learned the importance of being a good host. Whether welcoming visitors, preparing refreshments, or creating thoughtful spaces for conversation, I discovered that hospitality is not separate from education: it is one of its foundations. People are far more willing to engage, ask questions, and share their perspectives when they feel genuinely welcomed. Beauty, care, and generosity create the conditions for learning.
Behind the scenes, I also gained a much deeper appreciation for project management. Administrative work often goes unnoticed, but it is the invisible framework that allows exhibitions, educational programming, and community projects to happen successfully. Watching ideas move from planning meetings to public events taught me that meaningful cultural work depends just as much on organization and collaboration as it does on creativity.
Perhaps the greatest shift in my perspective came from witnessing street art's relationship with time.
During my internship, I experienced two moments that perfectly captured the nature of the medium. I watched a mural featuring my parents be demolished, marking the end of one public artwork's life. At the same time, I had the opportunity to witness a new mural with VoorUit in its earliest planning stages, before it even existed on a wall. Experiencing both endings and beginnings reminded me that street art is never static. It is constantly evolving alongside the communities that create, preserve, transform, and sometimes erase it.
Rather than seeing impermanence as something unfortunate, I began to see it as one of street art's greatest strengths. Every mural becomes part of a larger conversation about memory, place, and change. Being able to witness these transitions felt like witnessing history unfold in real time.
As I leave this internship, I am carrying more questions than answers. The biggest question I continue to ask myself is:
How can I keep encouraging others to keep questioning?
Museums are not simply places that provide answers. They are places that invite curiosity. The most meaningful conversations I experienced happened when people felt empowered to wonder alongside one another rather than search for a single correct interpretation.
There are three lessons I know I will carry with me long after this experience.
First, education begins after an agreement is made. Real learning happens through mutual trust, curiosity, and the willingness to engage with one another.
Second, being capable of many things does not mean you must do them all at once. This internship taught me that meaningful work requires focus, patience, and collaboration. No project is built alone.
Finally (and perhaps most importantly) embrace the temporary.
Street art reminds us that permanence is not what gives something value. A mural may disappear, but the conversations it sparked, the people it brought together, and the memories it created continue long after the paint is gone.
As I continue studying art history and visual culture, I leave with a deeper appreciation not only for street art itself, but also for the communities, educators, artists, and museum professionals who help us see it differently. I arrived hoping to learn how institutions interpret street art. I leave understanding that the most meaningful interpretation begins by paying attention: to people, to place, and to the ever-changing nature of the world around us.
I truly cannot thank Anna Stolyarova enough for allowing me the opportunity to serve as the Assistant Curator for this summer! My time at SAMA has not only allowed me to explore myself and my future, but to also become a part of communities I couldn't have even imagined existed. I know SAMA will continue paving the way for innovation and conversation, and I look forward to keeping up with whatever is next.
