Dear Mr. Garvin Brown,
I first want to thank you for your generous donation to the AIO and to my scholarship, without which I would not have been able to pursue and participate in my international internship. It has been an amazing experience which I will remember forever.
My internship was at the Bibliotheca Hertziana, an art historical research institute in Rome which promotes scientific research in the field of Italian and global history of art and architecture. The department I completed my internship in is Department Weddigen which focuses on the global ramifications of Italian art from the Early Modern Period to Modernism, on questions of materiality and mediality, on the intellectual history of the discipline of art history and on digital art history. During my stay, however, I also worked with people in the Library and Digital Humanities areas. This was because my internship was mainly focused on an archival project of digitizing the sketches, photographs, documents, and notes of contemporary Italian sculptor Mauro Staccioli (1937-2018).
With this project, I learned what programs are used for digitization, as well as the many individuals that must work together on such a project, including those who work in scanning and photography, researchers, and computer scientists. I was given the opportunity to look through the material myself, which made me use my Italian, German, and French skills that I learned at university and was asked to make suggestions on what elements of the physical items should be digitized or highlighted when the archive is published online for other scholars and the public. This highlighted elements of archival work that I had previously never encountered, including problems and discourses of subjectivity, the vast number of team members necessary to make the project successful, and the internal and external or public-facing side of the digitization of an archive. Excitingly, the archive is also to be displayed as a part of an exhibition at the institute in October, so I have had the fascinating opportunity to participate in meetings and witness early stages of the curatorial process. This project suited me greatly as it was a real world example of something I had only heard discussed in the lecture hall鈥攖he possibilities of using digital methods in the humanities.
As a whole, I found great inspiration being surrounded by colleagues who do art history for a living. As someone who cares deeply about the field of Art History and would like to pursue it in the future, this internship provided me with not only transferable skills that are useful in Art History and other non-academic settings but also a network of individuals, both upper staff and other interns, who know the field well. This is unendingly useful asit is very difficult to break into the field without relevant experience and a strong network.
I also helped out with scholarly life at the Bibliotheca, including some organizational matters for the conference 鈥淭he Notion of Renaissance, Between History and Myth. Origins, Transformations, New-Perspectives鈥� and was allowed to make use of the library鈥檚 vast art historical holdings during my breaks. This was one of many highlights of my experience, as it provided me with a greater diversity of experiences. Research during my spare time has also resulted in me finding a topic for my Honours thesis that I will complete during this upcoming year and I am very looking forward to completing.
The Bibliotheca Hertziana is one of few art historical research institutes in the world and for me, it would have been impossible to travel here and complete an unpaid internship without the Susan Casey Brown scholarship. It is an experience that has inspired me greatly and which I anticipate will help me on my career path after my graduation whether I want to pursue further education or dive into the professional world.
Thank you to the McGill International Experience Awards founders, and Mr. Brown for making this experience possible!
All my best,
Sophie Semeniuk
