I’ve been thinking a lot lately about museums. That might not come as a surprise since I am a second year Museum Studies Student, but I’ve been thinking about themes and events that aren’t often discussed in a museum context. Now don’t get me wrong, these themes and events are being discussed, but they are bypassing the museum sphere altogether.
For instance, In the winter of 2019 I was lucky enough to partake in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise through an iSkills workshop at the University of Toronto. The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a participatory retelling of what we are taught to be “Canadian History.” The workshop starts by everyone standing on their own small blankets, which represent Turtle Island. These blankets are plentiful, and they overlap each other, but nobody seems to mind. These blankets are also colorful and seem to encourages the excited and palpable energy which dances in the air. The two facilitators of the workshop start telling the story of Indigenous people through time and as they do the blankets (and the people on them) become separated, isolated and in some cases, they are removed from the learning area (symbolizing the shrinking numbers of Indigenous peoples through disease, assimilation, and extermination).
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| Blankets starting to shrink back symbolizing the loss of Indigenous land. Photograph Courtesy of Alexandra Forand. |
Soon, the blankets are no longer plentiful and anyone who is still standing (there aren’t many) are tired. The jubilant energy which filled the space is no longer present. After the retelling of events, there is a sharing circle where people are asked to reflect on what they have heard. The KAIROS Blanket Exercise challenges participants to look at history in a different way.
Another learning experience I had was viewing the commemorative art installation Walking With Our Sisters (WWOS) which honored missing and murdered Indigenous women. This idea sprung forth from Christi Belcourt, a Michif (Métis) visual artist, who put a call out for moccasin vamps. People from all over the world answered this call and over 2,000 vamps were submitted.
I was part of the WWOS organizing committee in Regina. Would be nice to see this in person one last time. Love the connection to the land ❤️ https://t.co/l0vphmPse6— CLB (@saskgirl101) August 14, 2019
A moccasin vamp is the top part of the moccasin, but these vamps will never be sewn into footwear, but instead represent the unfinished lives of the women and girls. I was a witness for the final installation and the closing ceremonies of WWOS at Batoche National Historical Site, SK. The sage smoke hung heavy in the dry, hot air and a river could be heard, but not seen because of the thick brambles. The installation cut through the low trees and carried on all the way to the river, where we, the viewers, could sit for a minute, before heading back to the gathering ground where elders were available to chat.
You see, these experiences could have easily been in a museum, but it would have decontextualized the activity. We discuss the danger of decontextualizing artifacts in collections, but why are we so ready to decontextualize the story that created these objects, which contributes to the narrative told in museums. For the KAIROS blanket exercise, standing in a classroom only heightened the fact that this history isn’t being taught in schools across the country. On the other hand, taking in the WWOS exhibit, being surrounded by the land that I love, comforted me as I walked with the women and girls whose lives were stolen from them. These feelings of anger, bitter loss, and, dare I say solace, could never be experienced fully in a museum setting where the objects, stories, and audiences are supposed to be “neutral.”
Some events, such as colonialism, cannot be contained in a glass case, there are no collections that illustrates the broken promises made between nations, and no one--no matter how talented--can write a didactic panel with the story of the land they refuse to acknowledge. The place in which you experience something is just as important as what you are experiencing and sometimes we are left with no choice but to look beyond the museum to see this.
As always, you can leave a comment, send me an email (allyforand@gmail.com), or if Twitter and Instagram are more your speed my handle on both is @Ally_but_online. Also, if you aren't following Christi Belcourt, you're missing out. She is an incredible artist, activists, and inspiration.
Some events, such as colonialism, cannot be contained in a glass case, there are no collections that illustrates the broken promises made between nations, and no one--no matter how talented--can write a didactic panel with the story of the land they refuse to acknowledge. The place in which you experience something is just as important as what you are experiencing and sometimes we are left with no choice but to look beyond the museum to see this.
As always, you can leave a comment, send me an email (allyforand@gmail.com), or if Twitter and Instagram are more your speed my handle on both is @Ally_but_online. Also, if you aren't following Christi Belcourt, you're missing out. She is an incredible artist, activists, and inspiration.
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