Exhibit
Coming Home centres around reclamation–what it means to reclaim one’s personal and family history, community treasures and belongings, and right to truth-telling.
In this exhibit, I share photographs and treasures within my and my family’s possession to tell my stories: of my mother who was Stl’atl’imx of the Líl’wat, my father who was Visayan of the Philippines, my husband whose roots were of the Mowachaht and Muchalaht, and my journey of presenting these histories as a means of guiding the futures of my grandchildren and later generations.
The stories I tell are of my transpacific Indigenous-Asian life on the west coast of this continent, covering the history of Indigenous-Asian encounters, and Yuquot’s long-standing and continued existence as a global place. My father’s journey to the United States and his migratory work practices travelling up and down the west coast of the continent echo the aspirations of social mobility for Asian settlers. Yet, his story intersects with my mother’s experience when many of her community, like her, left the familiarity of reserve life in Mount Currie and migrated to the city. The multiple places and spaces of migrants in their mobility, however, are juxtaposed to Yuquot’s unique history as a global place of encounter that has always been the home of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht people. This connectivity is epitomized in the initial arrival of the Chinese on the Pacific Northwest Coast in 1788, which saw the Mowachaht/Muchalaht people as “central actors connecting Europe with Asia via Yuquot.”¹
Similar to how my own life story is an embodiment of this history, Coming Home invites you to reflect on the past as a means of considering who, where, and when we are.
kleco kleco, kúkwstum̓ckacw, saeamat,²
Yakaap (Margaretta James)
¹ John Price, “Relocating Yuquot: The Indigenous Pacific and Transpacific Migrations,” BC Studies, no. 204 (2020): 22.
² “Thank you” in Nuu-Chah-Nulth, Ucwalmícwts, and Aklanon.
Project Team
Stories told by:
Yakaap (Margaretta James)
Curators:
Yakaap (Margaretta James)
Victoria So
Project Team:
Jennifer Lu
Claire Malek
Julianna Yue
Academic Advisors:
Dr. JP Catungal
Dr. Henry Yu
Design:
Victoria So
Library / Installation Team:
Claire Malek
Chelsea Shriver
Andrew Sandfort-Marchese
Emily Witherow
Treasures Courtesy of:
Yakaap (Margaretta James)
Dr. JP Catungal
UBC Rare Books and Special Collections
More details to come
UBC Partners (Alphabetical Order):
Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement
Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice
Library – Chung | Lind Gallery, Rare Books and Special Collections
St. John’s College
This project took place on the traditional, unceded, and ancestral territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. We hope that as we facilitate dialogue around Indigenous-Asian encounters through this exhibit, we continue to reflect on what it means to be uninvited guests and settlers on this land that xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people, since time immemorial, call home.