In the Elspeth McConnell Gallery of Northwest Coast Masterworks in the Museum of Anthropology, ‘Indigenizing’ artworks are exhibited in a glass case in the middle of the room surrounded with Indigenous artworks from the region. Artworks in this gallery are thematically classified by their historical backgrounds and appropriation stories. Indigenizing consists of a carved wooden angel (1886) attributed to Frederick Alexcee, a Parker Field’s craved wooden shotgun (Haida) and American eagle engraved bracelets (Haida), expressing the artists’ aggravating experiences of colonization in the 19th century. The wooden angel was craved and painted as a baptismal font taking the form of Christian-belief angel, with the European long blue-grey robe, a pair of deitylike wings and the left hand holding a black bowl while the right hand is raising in a blessing gesture. However, the angel’s physique still enfolds the traditional craven style of Tsimshian (Lax Kw’alaams) culture. The wooden craved shotgun is displayed on the right side of the angel. And the silver bracelets embellished American eagle are on its left.
The exhibition supersedes the unification and conflict of cultures, through the artwork of the American colonial period. Although they are centrally displayed among other conspicuous innovative Indigenous artifacts, the salient features of the colonizers’ influences have Indigenizing stand out of other exhibits. In one aspect, being conquered by the Christian people, the artists have presented their resilience by adapting their pieces of art for Indigenous cultural survival under the threatening situation. On the other hand, each artwork can be seen as the demonstrations of creative resistance the ‘artist-warrior’ created for bringing back their innovative Indigenous identity against the suppressing authority.
Even though I do not have prior knowledge or familiarity with the specific cultures, Tsimshian and Haida, nor the context of the artwork, the representation makes it clear about messages the art is telling. At first glance, I am also impressed by the contrast between two cultures shown in each creation. The curatorial statement interprets the artwork as the visual symbol of crash and convergence between Indigenous culture and European cultural control in terms of incompatibility and violence. Howsoever, regardless the imposed external appearances of the art pieces, the artists asserted their identity with the manifest designs indicating their spiritual believes and respect of doing the work. Their creative decisions indicate the alternative ways to embrace Indigenous identity just like its proximities in the gallery hall those their purposes are elaborately reignited to serve the changing world circumstances. As for the one who doesn’t get affiliated with the adversative history, the artworks have shown the interesting aspect of Indigenous artists on how they have dealt with the culture-assimilation problems and turned it into the opportunity to uphold their ownership to the creative masterpieces.
Work cited:
Kramer, Jennifer. “Figurative Repatriation: First Nations ‘Artist-Warriors’ Recover, Reclaim, and Return Cultural Property through Self-Definition.” Journal of Material Culture, vol. 9, no. 2, July 2004, pp. 161–182, doi:10.1177/1359183504044370.