About This Project

How do artworks wind up on museum walls? How are objects chosen for display and who makes such decisions? What individuals/groups are highlighted in these exhibitions? When Indigenous objects are put on display, they often lack the voice of the very communities who produced them. I will explore how museums exhibit and interpret Indigenous material culture, and advocate for a more multidimensional museum that more accurately portrays the diverse experiences shaping our past, present, and future.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

For over a year now I have interned at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, and have rigorously worked on digitizing every object in the collection. As the digital photographs amassed on the museum’s private server, I began to consider the potential of these virtual objects.

My internship inspired me to pursue an Art History Thesis, in which I am investigating how digital art surrogates can more effectively interact with their source communities to ultimately change the relationship between these two parties. My research in Quebec museums will allow me to pursue this line of inquiry and further examine to what degree they respond to Clifford’s “contact zone”, promoting “active collaboration and sharing of authority” (Routes, 121).

What is the significance of this project?

Haunted by their colonial pasts, museums often avoid the complex and troubled histories that tend to accompany Indigenous objects and instead illustrate a more homogenous, nationalistic identity. Through studying Indigenous exhibitions in Quebec, I hope to develop ways in which museums can more accurately reflect the plurality of these cultures’ artwork and objects. Reconnecting collections to their Indigenous source communities grants Native people their rightful input in how they want to be represented to the wider public, and extends a lateral set of narratives that may have gone untold otherwise. Creating a museum that fully demonstrates the diverse set of narratives connected to Indigenous objects promotes appreciation for all the unique threads that make up the rich human experience.

What are the goals of the project?

I will begin my research on January 3rd, 2016. I will visit seven museums during my stay in Quebec, including: Musée de la civilization, the McCord Museum, and Pointe-a-Calliere. While there, I will study the layout and design of the exhibition spaces. I will investigate if and how Indigenous communities were involved in development of the exhibition. I am interested in how Indigenous perspectives, or lack thereof, shape the exhibition's overall message. I will also determine how all of these various components work together to construct diverse histories and identities in a contemporary context. The data collected at each of these museums will further serve as essential comparisons to Indigenous collections here in the U.S.