Western Canada's art magazine since 2002
5 April 2022 Vol 7 No 7 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2022
Portia Priegert
From the Editor
The residential school apology from Pope Francis during his meetings with Indigenous representatives from Canada has been big news over the past week. It’s the start of a process that includes an anticipated papal visit to Canada in the summer, when many hope the apology will be expanded to recognize the church’s culpability in the systemic erasure of Indigenous culture.
Thus, it was interesting to hear Nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) artist, curator and educator Gerald McMaster advance an idea for cultural reconciliation on the CBC Radio program Day 6 – he’s suggesting the church allow Indigenous access to cultural belongings in the Vatican’s vast ethnological collection.
The collection, which McMaster tried to visit without success when he was in Italy to co-curate Canada’s entry in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, is thought to hold at least 80,000 items, largely gathered by Catholic missions around the world. McMaster believes about 200 pieces are from Indigenous communities in present-day Canada and may hold important historical information that could help people rebuild their culture after the many devastations of colonialism. In the CBC interview, he suggests the Vatican follow the example of Canadian museums that are working to decolonize.
“I’m thinking here that the Vatican museum, the Vatican collection, could begin its own decolonial process by bringing in Indigenous museum professionals to help them,” McMaster said. “So, this is what I see the next stage is. And, hopefully, this delegation opens up a creative process which will allow that.”
The decolonization Canadian museums and galleries are embarking on is a long overdue reckoning with racism and historical wrongs that has included the creation of Indigenous advisory panels, the hiring of Indigenous staff and the appointment of Indigenous board members, among other measures. If successful, it will likely become one of this era’s major museological achievements.
Galleries West recently explored an important aspect of decolonization for both museums and Indigenous people – the return of culturally significant belongings – as part of a feature story titled Repatriating Culture. If you haven’t read our last issue yet, I’d encourage you to check out this fascinating story, which looks at repatriation through the lens of a ceremonial mask from University of Victoria professor Carey Newman’s Kwakwak’awakw family, now in the collection of a German museum.
Moving on to this issue of Galleries West, many of the exhibitions we write about evoke various contemporary anxieties. The Way Home and Paper Thin Walls, are informed by the social isolation of the pandemic. Naked Excess, a Calgary exhibition by Michelle Bui, engages with the globalization of material abundance. The Imitation Game, a large group show at the Vancouver Art Gallery, considers the implications of artificial intelligence. Ordinary People (Like Me) takes a peek into the lives and social networks of Calgarians. And finally, Cloud Album, uses photo-based art to probe humanity’s fascination with the sky above.
Looking ahead, we are working on stories about Ken Lum, a leading artist from Vancouver; a four-part project by Métis artist Edward Poitras on Treaty 4 territory; and a new book about Buddhism’s influence on contemporary art.
Until next time,
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Meredyth Cole, Yani Kong, Agnieszka Matjeko, Tyler Muzzin, Lissa Robinson
We acknowledge the support of the Government of Alberta Media Fund, the Government of Canada Special Measures for Journalism Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts.
