Paper short abstract:

I explore how Northwest Coast communities are represented in museums from Indigenous visiting perspectives. Drawing on focus group sessions conducted with urban, Indigenous students and the exhibition development team, I explore the Museum of Anthropology's (MOA) exhibition In a Different Light.

Paper long abstract:

Collaboration between museums and Indigenous communities has been explored during exhibition creation (Shannon 2014; Wilson 2016), object preservation (Clavir 2002), and processes of repatriation (Krmpotich 2013). However, limited attention has been given to the reception of an exhibition from those whose culture is displayed (Kramer 2015; Frank 2000). I explore how Northwest Coast communities are represented in museums from Indigenous visiting perspectives. Drawing on focus group sessions conducted with urban, Indigenous/ First Nations students and the exhibition development team, I explore the Museum of Anthropology's (MOA) In a Different Light. This exhibition space presents historic, Indigenous artwork with reference to artist and scholar perspectives on story and enduring connection to land. In addition, objects are presented in natural lighting conditions, highlighting and avoiding display practices which tend to exoticize the "other." Ultimately, I examine how Indigenous perspectives on exhibitions and collaboration after exhibit installation can promote further decolonization of the museum as an educational institution. As exhibits are technologies of representation embedded in Western epistemologies, investigating this museum structure and a wider breadth of perspectives can serve to further decolonized and indigenized museum practice.