The 'Volunteer Voice' is a series of conversations with current and former volunteers, interns, work experience students, and work placement participants. In this post, Development Communications Intern, Heather Booton, speaks with Samantha.
Hi, Samantha! Tell us a little bit about yourself…
I’m originally from New York – I initially studied History of Art at NYU before coming over to Edinburgh to continue my studies. I’m particularly interested in a lot of contemporary art and photography, and I currently volunteer with Curatorial with my fantastic supervisor Anne Lyden, International Photography Curator.
What do you enjoy about volunteering? Any highlights?
One of my favourite parts of volunteering in the gallery was seeing the exhibitions I had been working on behind the scenes open; having spent so long looking at curatorial plans and miniature versions, it’s really rewarding to be able to see the real thing. One of my projects involved working with the curatorial team on the ‘The View from Here: Landscape Photography’ exhibition, at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
How has your volunteer experience affected you?
My third-year research project for university is based on a contemporary photographer recommended by Anne. Through the galleries, I can access resources in the library and some of the original works from the gallery collections to help me with my work. I also found that the research methodology I used in my volunteer role helped with my research projects.
Do you have a favourite work from the gallery?
I was really interested in the exhibition Facing the World: Self-Portraits from Rembrandt to Ai Weiwei that took place over summer in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery – it was interesting to see how artists like Rembrandt, Andy Warhol and Marina Abramovic were all placed together in the same exhibition. I also like some of the Douglas Gordon works in Modern One.
Catch the 'The View from Here: Landscape Photography' exhibition from the National Galleries of Scotland at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery until 30th April 2017.