Museums, Decolonization and Indigenous Artists as First Cultural Responders at the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v17i2.2806Keywords:
Museum Studies, Decolonization, Difficult Knowledge, National Identity, Public History, Human Rights, Art FormAbstract
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) is part of a global movement of human-rights–driven museums that commemorate atrocity-related events through exhibitions aimed to communicate a national social consciousness. However, museums in Canada are increasingly understood to contribute to the perpetuation of settler colonial memory regimes as dominant narratives of national identity. Through the analysis of theexhibit ‘Aborigina lWomen and the Right to Safety and Justice’, this article explores how museums in represent difficult knowledge and act as sites of decolonization, while suggesting how shared authority and nuanced Indigenous art forms might play a role in both. It posits that if museums in settler colonial societies are to evolve beyond the pretext of detached host, they must not only acknowledge past atrocities and injustices against Indigenous peoples, but also consistently examine the colonial logics and inventions that permeate colonizing and decolonizing exhibitions.
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- Images for the article
- Figure 1 & 2. Two views of the Canadian Journeys Gallery (author photographs)
- Figure 1 & 2. Two views of the Canadian Journeys Gallery (author photographs)
- Figure 3. A close up of the exhibit Aboriginal Women and the Right to Safety and Justice (author photograph).
- Figure 4. Aboriginal Women and the Right to Safety and Justice exhibit in relation to the entire Canadian Journeys Gallery (author photograph)
- Figure 5. Opening text panel of the exhibit Aboriginal Women and the Right to Safety and Justice (author photograph).
- Figure 6. The focal areal of Aboriginal Women and the Right to Safety and Justice (author photograph).
- Figure 7. A close up of the focal area of the exhibit. (author photograph).
- Figure 8. The right side-panel featuring four photographs and corresponding text (author photograph).
- Figure 9. Image 1 from the right side-panel (author photograph).
- Figure 9. Image 2 from the right side-panel (author photograph).
- Figure 11. Image 3 from the right side panel (author photograph).
- Figure 12. Image 4 from the right side panel (author photograph).
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Copyright remains with the author(s) of the article. This article can be re-used according to the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.