When you think of museums, you often think of statues of philosophers from thousands of years ago, paintings of kings draped in gold + riches, and generally just unrelatable or even a bit stuffy content. Maya Brooks — the young Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator at the NCMA — set out to create something different.

Her exhibit, To Be Young: Coming of Age in the Contemporary, aims to portray the experience of coming of age during the 20th and 21st centuries across various, diverse communities. It explores how individuals from different cultures develop from children to adults through concepts like identity, community, and kinship.

Maya started piecing the exhibit together back in August of 2020, and pulled all of the art from the museum’s permanent collection, except for 2 pieces by local photographers. At the time, she was entering her first job post college + graduate school, so a lot of Maya’s own emotions went into choosing the works.

Her favorite piece is a 2001 digital print by Bill Bamberger titled “Deandry.” Maya said it represents her personal journey, and she chose it for the exhibit because she wants people to look at it and wonder what the subject is thinking about.

Overall, Maya wants visitors to leave with the feeling that youth matter in art. She believes there needs to be space for work like this too, where too often it gets lost in the shuffle of art history.

You can see the exhibit for free in person in the West Building of the NCMA (2110 Blue Ridge Rd.) until Feb. 6, 2022. You can also hear Maya and featured local photographers Faith Couch + Jaylan Rhea in a virtual panel discussion tomorrow at 7 p.m. as they talk about the exhibit’s theme and their individual work. Register for the free event here.