Museum of Anthropology

On Tuesday morning, I visited the Museum of Anthropology located on the beautiful campus of the Univeristy of British Columbia with my friend Barry Magrill who now lives in Richmond. 

The museum itself is beautiful, with its soaring great hall that houses the main Haida exhibit.  It was designed by Arthur Erickson and built in 1976.

Barry has a Ph.D. in Art History from UBC, and it was really great getting a different perspective on what we were seeing at the Museum.

The Museum houses items from all over the world, but the main focus is on the Canadian Aboriginal Peoples, particularly the Haida.   This focus comes from the Museum's close relationship with the late Canadian artist and broadcaster, Bill Reid, who mother was of the Haida First Nation.

As I learned from Barry, this focus on the Haida is somewhat controversial for a couple of reasons.  First, the Museum (and the entire UBC campus) actually sits on what was historically Musqueam land.  The Haida were a coastal people who lived in Haida Gwaii (what we know as the Queen Charlotte Islands). 

Did you notice that I said "what was Musqueam land" and "the Haida were a coastal people" using the past tense?  This is something that we (non-First Nations people) do all the time, and which undermines the continuing identity of the First Nations people.  The Haida still exist, and the Musqueam still regard this area as their land.  The power of language is intriguing, and something I never thought about until Barry pointed it out to me.

The other contentious issue is this display of Haida totem poles that were cut into pieces and floated down from Haida Gwaii, so that they could be "preserved".  Some of these totem poles are over 160 years old.

Barry also pointed out to me how the displays combine both older and more modern pieces (see above) to illustrate that the First Nations peoples are still present in our society.  He told me a story about how he was visiting the Museum with a student whose heritage was from a Southern Pacific people.  When the student saw artifacts from his culture it brought him to tears because seeing these pieces of art in a Museum rather than a Gallery drove home the idea that his ancestral civilization was dying.

One of the coolest things about the Museum was what they called "Visible Storage".  Unlike some Museums which have thousands of pieces that are simply locked away and can't be viewed, the MOA has a large area that makes these items available for viewing (even if they are not in a curated display).  There were even dozens of filing cabinets with sliding drawers that let you view drawings and other small items.  Every item had an ID number that you could lookup on computer stations around the exhibit.

Another interesting thing I learned from Barry is the difference between pre-contact and post-contact artifacts.  Before contact with Europeans, the First Peoples did not have precision tools and did not craft detailed items like the small totems shown in the lower left above.

After contact with Europeans, the creation of art was also influenced by trade opportunities, and items were created that would appeal to (and could be sold to) the Europeans.  This has led to the commercialization of the Native Arts.  The chess set above is a good example - it is not something the Inuit would have created for themselves pre-contact.

I really enjoyed my visit to the Museum of Anthropology, and it was really great seeing Barry again.  His perspective added a totally different dimension to the visit.  Thanks Barry!