Jonathan Labaree, Gulf of Maine Research Institute

“When digging around for some background on Kimball’s ‘The Presumpscot River Looking Toward Blackstrap’ for one of our discussions, I learned about Chief Polin and his efforts to restore salmon runs in the river. He walked, twice, to Boston to petition the governor after colonists started building dams in the 1730s and was later killed in response for his efforts to preserve his Tribe’s source of food. It was just one of several examples of exactly what the museum’s reinterpretation is asking us to do: look deeper at familiar images, question our default narratives, and educate ourselves.”

“I learned so much from my fellow advisory committee members,” Jonathan Labaree of Gulf of Maine Research Institute tells us. “Broadly, the lessons I came away with are to question what you see, ask how others might view or interpret your words and actions, and ask whose story is being told and what is being left out.”

Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s (GMRI) mission is centered on collaborative solutions to global ocean challenges. GMRI and the PMA have partnered for several programs around sustainability and how natural, social, and economic systems interact on a local and global scale. Labaree’s expertise of the region’s fishing industry presented a unique perspective to artworks related to Maine’s waters and local ecosystems.