Norfolk is the third and final stop in the U.S. for the first large-scale survey of Canadian Indigenous art to travel internationally.
“Early Days: Indigenous Art from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection” is on display at The Chrysler Museum of Art and features more than 100 paintings, sculptures and photographs spanning several centuries and from across North America.
Sarah Milroy, the McMichael Collection curator, said she has seen the massive public interest in Canada for indigenous art and stories, which she called “integral to the story of Canada.”
“For many communities…it’s not always a clear-cut Canadian or U.S. situation,” said Chelsea Pierce, The Chrysler’s McKinnon Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. “Some of the topics and the themes that are being addressed in terms of settler colonialism are just as applicable here as they are in Canada.”
“At every turn there’s something historical but something contemporary at the same time, so you’re seeing time unfold and you’re seeing the transmission of knowledge and culture over time,” Pierce said.
In the nearly finished gallery, Pierce motioned to a framed piece of beadwork.
“Can you imagine a beadworker finding these for the first time?” she said. “Native American women would use porcupine quills … slice them up, dye them and use them as beads.”
“Glass was introduced by the Europeans,” said Pierce. “Sometimes the contact between settlers and indigenous people brought beautiful things, like glass beads.”
“At the same time, there’s the bad side, '' she said, motioning to neighboring pieces, which use beadwork to depict diseases like tuberculosis and smallpox.
“Touch can be such a beautiful intimate thing,” she said, “But it can also be this physical blow.”
Many pieces in the exhibit show this tension, and the Chrysler worked extensively with a local native advisory council composed of Virginia-based scholars and experts in First Nations studies to develop relationships and deepen understanding in the context of indigenous communities.
“Communities are no longer interested in an authoritative western or settler voice telling the public about their cultural material. They want input into how these objects are represented,” Pierce said.
Pierce said this exhibit is just one example of how “culture and museums come together. Sometimes it’s a really fraught relationship and sometimes it's really fruitful … What we get from the objects and how we interpret them really depend on the voice behind it.”
The exhibit “doesn't lead with politics…it’s an invitation” into what these communities are willing to share, Pierce said.
“The Early Days: Indigenous Art from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection” is on display until Sept. 4 at The Chrysler Museum of Art. The museum and exhibit are free for the public. More information is available on The Chrysler’s website.
