Towards the back of the Multiversity Gallery in the Museum of Anthropology lies an exhibit named This Song is a Museum. (2011) crafted by Peter Morin, a Tahltan First Nations. His creation is held within a glass display case where five handrums made of elk-skin can be seen, with black paint alongside the surface as well as a drum stick dipped in paint. All five drums as well as the drum stick hang on what seems to be wire; the designs on the drums being individually different from each other. Morin explains the piece to be a visual recording of a song done by Coast Salish Singer Hwietumten (Fred Roland); inscribing a memory of singing which is something that Morin states the museum to be losing. This contemporary artwork is a reflection of the ways in which objects such as the drums can be “fluid structures[…] strong enough to carry ideas” and provide messages for those viewing the exhibit.
It is sometimes difficult to remember the importance and cultural ties that Indigenous peoples not only here in B.C but all over Canada and the world have to these artifacts and artworks in museums today. Morin makes a statement about this idea and reminds viewers that the objects at MOA are all “manifestations of cultural knowledge tied to living people, land, and cultures” which highlights how these pieces are more than just historical but still have deeper connections to Indigenous peoples in our modern world. Surrounded by pieces like One Mind, One Heart a contemporary art piece by Ian Reid (which speaks on an issue of pipeline construction on Indigenous land), it is clear to see that through workings of figurative repatriation that require non-native audiences, strong messages told through Indigenous voices are able to be communicated.
As a viewer, it was hard to distinguish at first glance what the art-piece was trying to communicate which led me to read Peter Morin’s explanation located at the bottom of the exhibit. Coming from a First Nations lens such as my own, I was able to pick up details about the piece right away such as the drums that I have made myself in my own community as well as the stick that I knew was made specifically for the drums to make beats and songs. Although I had some prior knowledge to certain details of the piece, I was unable to interpret what it meant as a whole and what message it was trying to convey. It required me to seek more information about the piece and reflect back on what the exhibit meant to Morin which was to showcase the ways knowledge is carried when it comes to Indigenous objects such as the memory of singing in his piece which I thought to be quite beautiful.