Photos from the Exhibition Infantile History

Infantile History is a group exhibition at the Department of History at York University, featuring children’s and childlike art to examine core questions faced by the discipline of history. It also explores art as an effective tool to delve into methodological challenges in creating and communicating historical knowledge.

Noa Yaari (photo: Lee Waddington)

The exhibition is part of my major project, ‘Visual Literacy in History,’ which focuses on vision as a first step in researching the past. The three main challenges the exhibition examines are: the use of artistic style as a means to periodize history; the creation and communication of historical knowledge through verbal-visual means; and history as a discipline and its classification into fields.

Noa Yaari, History of Africa and L. America, the Department of History at York University, 2017

Periodization of time into eras enables historians, students of history, and the public to communicate their ideas about the past. However, we must engage the following problems: how this periodization is made; which principles we use in dividing time into shorter periods; and what perspective we need in order to identify eras’ uniqueness.

Seeing artistic work as a record of bodily gestures allows its analysis as a medium that indexes its creator. Therefore, if we look at children’s and childlike art, we can ask: what do we see there that indicates the age or maturity of its creator? What exactly is there that suggests that the creator of the work has potential to be, to become, something else? The attempt to answer these questions is insightful and suggestive when examining history and its periodization, as well as our own expectations to find temporal changes in specific cultural domains.

Noa Yaari, Public History, the Department of History at York University, 2017

Creation and communication of historical knowledge is based on varied sources and methods. In their research, historians turn to diverse sources, such as institutional and personal documents, photographs, maps, films, websites, and more, to draw a picture of the past. The exhibition explores the connection between verbal and visual languages in studying and teaching history: how we understand words and images when they are displayed next to each other; whether there is a better way to use both languages in the same text and argument; and the importance of visual literacy in history as a skill in historical study, holding that any domain of knowledge makes use of an outlook to the past.

Noa Yaari, Infantile History (part of the exhibition), the Department of History at York University, 2017

The historical discourse is classified into fields that are defined by periods of time and geographies, as well as themes. Infantile History draws visitors’ attention to the power of this classification: it raises questions about the different directions the historical discipline has taken through its own history; and the traditional and yet dynamic boundaries between the fields that serve the discipline as a mirror to ask “Who am I? And what would I like to be?”

The project also promotes visually stimulating environment in pedagogical settings. It beautifies the Department of History, and at the same time, raises deep questions about our approach to history and its making.

Noa Yaari, History of Europe, the Department of History at York University, 2017

Noa Yaari, Infantile History (part of the exhibition), the Department of History at York University, 2017

Noa Yaari, Transnational History, the Department of History at York University, 2017

Noa Yaari, Infantile History, the Department of History at York University, 2017

The participants in the exhibition are: Renato Barrera, Kevin Burris, María Ignacia Catalina (Ini), Axel C., Liam Dancy, Sean Dancy, Claire R. Dueck, Gideon, Joaquín Hidalgo, Norah Jurdjevic, Erica McCloskey, Antonia Morales, Leela Navaratnam, Ruben Navaratnam, Oriolle, Corinna S. H., Juliet S. H., Noa Yaari, Belén Zapata, and Michael Zinman.

Noa Yaari, Infantile History, the Department of History at York University, 2017

Infantile History was made possible with the collaboration of the Department of History and the Graduate History Students’ Association, as well as the generous support of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, the Centre for Student Community & Leadership Development and the Departments of History at Keel and Glendon campuses.

Noa Yaari, Infantile History (part of the exhibition), the Department of History at York University, 2017

The reception of Infantile History took place on Thursday, March 23 between 12:30 and 2:00 pm, in the History Common Room (Vari Hall 2183). We had a great lunch and talks by PhD student and art teacher Ginny Grimaldi, History Professor Tom Cohen and myself. Everyone was welcome!

Noa Yaari, Migration History, the Department of History at York University, 2017

Noa Yaari, Migration History (detail), the Department of History at York University, 2017

Noa Yaari, Infantile History (part of the exhibition), the Department of History at York University, 2017

Noa Yaari, Labour History, the Department of History at York University, 2017

Noa Yaari, Infantile History (part of the exhibition), the Department of History at York University, 2017

Infantile History on YFile: York University’s News: http://laps.yorku.ca/2017/03/infantile-history-explores-art-in-creating-and-communicating-historical-knowledge/