IULM Scholarship 2017 – Camilla Balbi

The partnership with IULM University in Milan continues, through which AIMIG selects students for a summer internship at the Israel Museum. This year, the winner of the call for applications was Camilla Balbi, a student who demonstrated great talent and passion.

Camilla Balbi Israel Museum, Jerusalem 2 July – 31 July 2017

I let a great deal of time pass—probably too much—before finally sitting down quietly at my computer to write these few words, which feel dramatically insufficient to describe what I carry inside: what Israel has left me, what Israel has allowed me to become. I waited for my emotions to cool, so that I could gain the necessary perspective to focus on my inner landscape and transform that enormous tangle of words that filled my mind in September into an expression of emotion and gratitude toward the Friends of the Israel Museum, who made this unforgettable and profoundly important experience possible.

It was not my first time in Israel, and it amazes me every time how I—born and raised in Italy—can feel such a deep sense of belonging to that barren, austere, deeply mystical landscape that is Jerusalem. However, it was the first time I stayed for so long, discovering just how different everyday life in the Middle East is from the Milanese routine I am (unfortunately) used to. In the space of a month, I learned instead to let myself be guided gently by slower rhythms and intense emotions, by a calm, sun-drenched routine made of vivid beauty and unforgettable stories.

Above all, the Israel Museum was my very first work experience, and I do not believe there are words to describe what it means for an art student—who has spent years seeing many of the works displayed in the museum only in textbooks—to find herself face to face with them, walking quietly through the dimly lit empty galleries—on the day the museum is closed to the public—through the history of the human spirit, revealed in all its incredible beauty in the absolute silence of that enchanting flower in the desert that is the Israel Museum.

If those silent walks among the artworks are perhaps the deepest memory I carry of the museum—one of those things you know you will never forget—from a more pragmatic point of view, the truly extraordinary privilege I had was to see from the inside how a great museum works, one of the greatest in the world. An enormous synergistic machine, made up of very different people from every part of the world, united by a powerful love for their culture and identity, and by an extraordinary dedication to work carried out at the highest level of excellence, while always maintaining a relaxed and joyful atmosphere.

Despite the inevitable sense of disorientation (I kept getting lost in the museum for the entire duration of my internship—it was that vast), I was genuinely happy to have been able to make an active contribution, as much as I could, to some of the many projects the museum carries out simultaneously. Indeed—something quite rare for an internship—my presence was never perceived as a burden; on the contrary, I was allowed to put my skills at the service of projects that I immediately felt were my own.

For example, my strong knowledge of Latin allowed me to assist Ariel Tishby, curator of the Maps and Manuscripts Department, in translating a series of humanistic correspondences in archaic Italian and Latin, truly putting my skills to use and initiating a collaboration that continued even after my return to Italy. Back home, I photographed and sent Ariel manuscripts held at the Palatina Library in Parma.

Even the more “office-based” tasks—though fundamental to the museum—in which I took part, such as cataloguing donations, were extremely interesting. I learned an enormous amount about how the museum maintains relationships with its donors, about the organization of fundraising events, the American patronage system, the functioning of the essential software used for these operations, and how crucial social relationships are, requiring absolute professionalism and meticulous care, leaving nothing to chance. In short, even a task that might seem “boring” on paper opened a window for me onto an aspect of the museum institution in which Italy is truly lagging behind, and provided me with knowledge I will certainly treasure.

But the most incredible thing is how, against all expectations, in just one month one of the most important museum institutions in the world became one of the places I can call “home.” Home because Allison, who is responsible for the museum’s digitization and for welcoming interns, was more than a supervisor—she was like a mother, a true point of reference. She hosted me in her home for a night and invited us to a Shabbat dinner with her entire family, making me feel completely at ease despite being in a context so different from what I am used to and so far from home.

Home because I found true friends among the other museum interns, forming very strong bonds with young people from the United States, Canada, France, and South Africa. From this perspective too, I believe such an intense cultural exchange—like the genuine friendships formed with people who live so far away from me—is truly rare. I visited the French intern who worked in my department, Simon, in Paris a few months ago, and we spent a cold Parisian winter evening reminiscing about the scented warmth of Ben Yehuda Street and the wonderfully chaotic bus trip to Galilee during our days off. We said goodbye to Julia, from Cape Town, on Skype; shortly after the internship, thanks to the South African friends she met at the museum, Julia found a job at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cape Town and promised she would come visit us in Europe soon. “Or next year in Jerusalem,” I told her, half jokingly quoting the traditional wish of Jews in the diaspora—but not entirely joking.

Jerusalem is missing from my life far more than I ever would have expected, and the idea of applying for citizenship—an idea I had never seriously considered, since despite my Jewish origins I am completely secular—has become surprisingly more realistic after this internship, just to give you an idea of how deeply this experience has shaped my existential horizons.

Now that almost a year has passed since I applied for the internship, I can say that I was truly changed by that month spent in the most complicated, and most beautiful, of Middle Eastern countries. On a personal level, I reconciled with part of my roots and discovered how much piercing beauty there can be in this small strip of desert land. I discovered that I am capable of living on my own very far from home—and that I enjoy it—and of forming deep bonds with people whose histories and cultures are profoundly different from mine. I discovered that I believe I never want to stop traveling, learning, observing, listening to the stories a land has to tell.

On a professional level, I am writing a thesis that came to me during one of those walks through the Israel Museum galleries I mentioned earlier, focusing on two authors closely linked to Jewish culture: Panofsky and Moholy-Nagy. I am also continuing to collaborate with the museum, as the curator of the Modern Art Department, Adina Kamien-Kazhdan, placed great trust in me by asking me to work for her as a researcher in the archive of a collector and donor to the Israel Museum—thus turning my first internship into my first small professional engagement.

All of these things, which for those of you reading may occupy the space of a fleeting thought, represent my first true steps from the “world of study” into the “adult world.” They will remain forever etched as fundamental moments in my memory and in my heart. And for this reason, I can only thank with all my heart and all the words I possess my university, IULM, and the Friends of the Israel Museum.

I believe (and hope) I have made clear how important this experience has been for me, both as a person and as an aspiring scholar, and how deeply grateful I am to you for granting me—and for granting those who will come after me—this extraordinary opportunity.

With great affection,

Camilla Balbi