By Steven Scarpa
Sarah Clunis grew up in a household filled with art – her grandfather was a collector and chair of the National Gallery in Jamaica. There was art on the walls of her home and art history books on the shelves.
Despite the immersion, Clunis wanted to be a biologist when she went to school. It was an art history class taken as an undergraduate at Simmons College that changed her direction.
Now, she works alongside scientists and anthropologists to ensure that stories of civilizations from across time and space are told, and that material culture is protected.
Clunis joined the Yale Peabody Museum staff this past month as the Head of Anthropology Collections. She most recently served as the Executive Director of the Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum and has a background in cultural collections care with expertise in the study of materials from Africa and its diaspora.
“We are so excited to collaborate with Sarah and benefit from her deep knowledge of issues and pathways forward in stewarding anthropological collections,” said Susan Butts, director of collections and research.
Clunis found over the course of her career that art museums weren’t always doing the kind of work she was interested in, which was engaging with descendant communities. “It can be very emotional work. It can be difficult work. But I think it's ultimately healing work. I’m interested in that kind of work,” she said.
Her career is rooted in a deep affection for and belief in the work anthropology museums and collections do. The Peabody’s collection of Caribbean objects and artifacts is among the biggest in the world, making it an appealing professional destination. But, as with many things, the professional and the personal coexist in her thinking.
“My parents grew up (in Jamaica) under British colonialism. I grew up in a post-colonial world, so this is something I am interested in learning more about … People don’t necessarily talk about this in terms of their work. In some ways, I feel like it’s an ancestral call for me to be present with this collection,” she said.
After the end of British rule, Jamaica embraced the culture of the African diaspora, inspiring Clunis’s academic interest. “Because I grew up with this very strong connection to those that came before me, I decided that I wanted to know more about the African traditions that I saw around me in Jamaica,” Clunis said. “I also wanted to learn more about myself.”
The skills honed as an art historian gave Clunis a unique perspective on anthropological objects. Provenance and genealogical research are similar, she explained. One moment, Clunis can feel like Sherlock Holmes, solving mysteries. At other moments, she can feel more like Alice in Wonderland, going down rabbit holes.
“I find it completely fascinating ... I get to do this (research) that I think is cool and interesting and figure out secrets, mysteries, and stories. Objects are the portal to these stories. They have biographies; they have social lives,” Clunis said.
The Peabody’s wide array of collections – from the material of ancient civilizations to specimens of the natural world – provides context for each other in unique and often surprising ways.
“This model appeals to me because I feel that many of the cultures that I work with consider the landscape and everything in it holistically. Plants take care of people. People take care of plants. Animals take care of people. People take care of animals. There is one large ecosystem in which we are all a part and that we all should respect,” she said.
As Clunis settles into the daily affairs of the Museum and learns about its anthropology collections, some priorities are becoming more evident. She plans to continue the ethical stewardship of the anthropological collections while developing policies and procedures to facilitate teaching and research.
“I would like to see more engagement with the collection in terms of classes and students working with it. Object-related research is important for people who want to work with material culture, and it is not always available,” she said.
Clunis has also identified another need, one that recalls her interests in exploring the rich culture of her own home. Offering people the opportunity to see themselves in a museum’s offerings can be powerful, she said. “Engagement with the New Haven community is at the very top of the list,” she said. “Museums are really becoming spaces for the community to tell community stories.”