Representing Heritage
Storyboards of Palau: Cultural Expressions from Micronesia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Velma Yamashita
Storyboards from the Republic of Palau emerged during the Japanese administration of the islands in the 1930s and are one of the most recognizable and notable forms of art from the Micronesian region, particularly as a form of commoditized or tourist art. The commoditization of art, a phenomenon often found in non-Western cultures, consists of complex relationships among artists, merchants, and consumers. These relationships play significant roles in a market that seeks to satisfy consumers, a group that frequently consists of outsiders or tourists. Although initially viewed as degenerate and inauthentic, works created specifically for sale have come to be recognized as objects with cultural significance. Steiner and Phillips recognize that within different contexts, the objects may be viewed and appreciated within an art-artifact-commodity triad. When viewed within these three contexts, the researcher, collector, and consumer gain different types of cultural information from the visual elements and the documentation associated with storyboards. The research includes surveys of museums and interviews with carvers to identify aspects of storyboard production and provides a comprehensive history of these commoditized objects and their significance. The storyboard, then, may be viewed as a commodity that is created to present a cultural past to the consumer.
Indigenous Arts and Audiences: Influence and Impact at the Venice Biennale
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nancy Marie Mithlo
In the summer following the 2016 - 2017 water protector movement on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, three Native American women presented their artwork on the occasion of the Venice Biennale. Titled "Wah.shka," Marcella Ernest, Shan Goshorn and Keli Mashburn's artistic statements directly addressed the sacredness of water, the role of women and threats to our tribal sovereignty. A common response to these efforts is to question the level of impact on an international audience who are assumed to be the primary focus of exhibition aims. This paper, as relayed by a co-curator of the exhibition, argues that audience response is but one of the many legitimizing platforms available at this most central international arts festival. While public influence is a mainstay of similar activist and politicized artistic interventions (our exhibition is largely unsanctioned), the power of presence meaningfully achieves alternative aims of selfhood aligned with Indigenous protocols. Rather than resulting in a cultural flattening, these forays into the globalized art world engenders perspectives not readily available "at home." Native belonging in urban globalized contexts is not at odds with a simultaneous claim to aboriginal territories, languages, and ceremony.
(Re)mapping Ontario: The (De)colonial AestheSis/AestheTics of Susan Blight and Hayden King's Ogimaa Mikana
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Melissa Nesrallah
Drawing on the work of Walter D. Mignolo and Rolando Vasquez (2013), Mishuana Goeman (2013), Gerald Vizenor (2008), Jarret Martineau and Eric Ritskes (2014), among others, I argue that Ogimaa Mikana represents a powerful form of (de)colonial aestheSis/aestheTics; one which serves to rupture settler colonialism through the (re)mapping/(re)storying of the Canadian landscape. I also suggest that, by making visible the presence of Indigenous peoples on the land, Ogimaa Mikana can be understood as an important form of Indigenous “fugitivity” (Martineau & Ritskes, 2014) and “survivance” (Vizenor, 2008). Lastly, I contend that the act of (re)storing Anishinaabemowin place-names works to activate (de)colonial possibilities through the rejection of imperial and colonial geographies, as well as the (re)centering of Indigenous knowledges, lifeways, and futurities.
Monuments: Vehicles for Division and Healing
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Christine Neal
Public monuments, as embedded elements of a community’s artistic milieu, can be catalysts for both divisiveness and healing, sometimes at separate times but also in other contexts as the collective memory changes over time. This paper will examine the role of memorial sculpture by focusing on several works from the oeuvre of Theodora Alice Ruggles Kitson (1871-1932), one of the foremost American women artists of her day. Additionally, this research will investigate the role that gender politics may play in reflecting the altering cultural paradigm. Finally, the relevance of public monuments and the inclusion of marginalized people, will be posited for discussion.
