Director’s Welcome to "Stories of Maine: An Incomplete History"


 What is your Maine story?

Rather than create an exhibition that simply celebrates Maine’s Bicentennial, we decided to mark the moment through a collection of stories and objects that shares many different perspectives and narratives to comprise the region’s rich and complex history. And because Maine’s 200-year anniversary of statehood takes place in 2020, we decided on 20 stories for 20 objects. Any time you make selections for a group exhibition, you run the risk of not being inclusive enough. We decided to accept the risk—but also to invite you to choose the 20th story, and to acknowledge in the title that our presentation is an “incomplete history.”

 To help make our choices, we partnered with the Maine Humanities Council, who helped us bring together advisory committees from all over the state. In the past few years, the PMA has created similar committees for major exhibitions such as N. C. Wyeth (on view October 4, 2019 through January 12, 2020) and Winslow Homer and Frederic Remington (which opens later this year) to foster inclusivity, empower more voices, and create a broader narrative to welcome a wider variety of audiences and communities. I hope this exhibition enables you to explore your own stories and think about objects that are important to your life and community.

 When we named the exhibition Stories of Maine: An Incomplete History, we were referring to the fact that there can be no singular narrative to describe our state’s history. We didn’t know at the time that our state’s history would continue to unfold so dramatically this spring with the spread of the COVID-19 virus through our country and region, and that new stories would pile up so quickly—stories of the courage of our state’s health care workers and first responders, of public institutions coming together and sharing resources, and tragically in some cases, of the losses of people close to us. To help prevent the spread of the virus and to keep our staff and visitors safe, the PMA was forced to close its doors just two weeks before Stories of Maine was set to open with a free day for all to enjoy the exhibition and related programming.

 Because Maine is so dependent on tourism, this state-wide closure is a frightening time from an economic perspective; coming off of a record year for attendance for the PMA and many of Maine’s institutions and businesses, what had once been high hopes for 2020 has suddenly transformed into deep uncertainty and insecurity. The commemoration of the Maine Bicentennial was meant to be a rallying moment for the state, and we were proud to have worked with so many partners and received contributions from so many people from diverse communities.

 The state of Maine will reopen this year, and Stories of Maine will be on view when we reopen our doors—whenever that may be. In the meantime, we felt that providing as many resources as possible online will help you feel some of the energy of this show and its many contributors, remind us of what an exciting future we have ahead, and allow us to reflect on the richness our community during a time when we are all developing a deeper appreciation for the place we live and the people that we share this place with.

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Mark H. C. Bessire
Judy and Leonard Lauder Director