Field Exercise

Field Research Project #1: Zimmerman Library

Zimmerman library represents a meeting of modern and early New Mexico. The edifice, designed in the famous Adobe style, joins together the “Historic West Wing” with additional expansions to facilitate a swelling population of visitors to the building.

Though in keeping with the character of the rest of the older buildings on campus, Zimmerman’s exterior betrays its function in the modern world. Through the big glass doors at its entrance can be spied the garish light of an ATM machine, as if in mockery of the notion that our rewards from the building will be gained freely. If we walk a little a little further in from the lobby we will be stopped by the clamour of students queuing impatiently outside of Starbucks, jostling one another as they wait to relieve their cravings for caffeine and sugar.

To the right is the newer side of the library with its tables of computers, photocopying machines and students lying face down on desks in despair. If we take a left out of Starbucks instead, we will find ourselves West wing. It is the oldest part of the library and was designed by John Gaw Meem in the Spanish Pueblo style. The West wing revels in the cultural fusion that comprises New Mexico. From the tin light fixtures, fabricated by local craftsmen, to its carved wooden chairs, the rooms display immaculate attention to detail.

The murals inside the Great Hall, though very beautifully rendered, are perplexing. The Indian artist and the Spanish builder are fairly self-explanatory but the final two pictures are a bit more confusing. The Anglo showing scientific contributions has at its centre a doctor in a face mask holding a baby. There is something about this image which seems a bit uncanny. The final picture, which is meant to be of the union of all three cultures in the South West, seems to retain perturbing residues of Anglo hierarchical dominance, not to mention patriarchy. It depicts a white Arian male standing centre facing forward with two darker skinned males either side of him. They are turned so that you cannot entirely see their faces and are shaking hands with the white man.

The connotations of this final mural seem a little odd and act as a reminder for me that sometimes prejudices and normalised ideas become so ingrained into our psyches that even when we believe we are doing something productive and forward thinking, we may still be carrying prejudicial baggage.