lolAs my ASTU class enters into the next unit of “‘Vulnerable Subjects’ and Testimonies”, we got the chance to revisit the TRC by dropping by UBC’s Museum of Anthropology to bear witness to mostly textual and visual testimonial expression, compared to last term’s artistic testimonial expression at the Belkin Gallery. These contrasting experiences represent, what Whitlock mentions in her article, different types of testimonies that function to stir public discourse about the issues in various, outreaching ways, rather than sticking with just the traditional oral testimonies that may be easily forgotten with time. As Whitlock argues, the mere acknowledgement of the issues is not enough to complete testimony, but requires a specific public response of “empathic witnessing” (77), powerfully stirring human emotion upon individuals to truly feel the reality and importance of the issues. This witnessing, and more importantly, mass witnessing (created by the welcoming opening of such public exhibitions) would create the lasting effects of recognition, and is essential to potentially achieve “social justice and equality” of the community, the ultimate goal of testimonies.
With the exhibits I bore witness to, I personally felt the victims’ voices pressing upon me, screaming at me to listen to them. It was the contrast between the simplicity and peaceful set-up of the museums’ rooms and the uncensored, violent, energetic artworks and imagery of words to me that seemed to successfully attract recognition. This violence within the silence effectively disturbed my conscious state, and I realize now that I have fulfilled Whitlock’s theory of empathic witnessing (77) As a result, these experiences weren’t just something I learned to later forget, however they stuck with me and have opened my eyes about such human rights abuse and dying culture the community has lived through.
As the TRC Mandate (1998) stated, it is not only the sincere “acknowledgement of the injustices and harms experienced by Aboriginal people” but also the community’s step for “continued healing” and “[paving] [of] the way for reconciliation” that is the overall aim of testimonies through the the context of the TRC.
Testimonies do not only have to apply to dying cultures, but can apply to everyday communities that have suffered, or even continue to suffer, injustices of human rights around the world (ex. the right to protect, the right to basic needs). The importance to recognize these injustices stands within our role as global citizens, and as Martin Luther King Jr stated in fighting for Black-American justice and equality:
Whitlock, Gillian. “Narrative Threshold.” Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2007. 77.
Like you, I was also amazed by the broad range of testimony at the MOA and Belkin art exhibitions: at the MOA exhibition, it was the degree to which the letters differed from one another in their messages that drew my attention. When I arrived, I expected the letters to convey roughly similar storylines, yet while some that grieved the loss of their childhood, at the other end of the spectrum you would find those letters that (rather surprisingly) admitted how “beautiful” their experience at the Indian residential schools had been. In retrospect, both the Belkin art gallery harnessed distinctive forms of communicating the trauma of the Aboriginal communities during a period of forced cultural assimilation; however, at the MOA exhibition, the experiences of the individuals seemed to have just been projected within a Western artistic framework: that is, most of the exhibition was clean-cut, white, organized and sufficiently easy to understand. On the other hand, some of the pieces at Belkin art gallery were much more complex, enigmatic and called for in-depth interpretation from the audience, as they were saturated with a plethora of Aboriginal references. The fact that I personally engaged more profoundly with the art exhibit at Belkin gallery, however, is not to dismiss the powerful testimony presented at the Museum of Anthropology. Instead, the different testimonies at the MOA and Belkin demonstrate, as you mentioned, the various alternative forms that life writing can take in order to convey the hardships of oppressed communities and to stimulate public discourse.