1 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:13,770 Welcome to the Rivers Museums. 2 00:00:13,770 --> 00:00:21,690 Matters of Policy podcast, this is a podcast in which we explore the museum's collections development policy, 3 00:00:21,690 --> 00:00:33,390 speaking with guests from across the globe to delve into the language used and consider what really matters in this policy. 4 00:00:33,390 --> 00:00:37,800 Hi, I'm Alexis. Hi, I'm Megan, and I'm on indigenous land today. 5 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:45,900 I'd like to do a land acknowledgement, so I am a white settler of Celtic and British descent living on Treaty one territory in Winnipeg, 6 00:00:45,900 --> 00:00:51,480 which is the traditional lands of the initial knob, the new Ajiboye, the new Cree ogy, 7 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:56,370 Cree Denny and Dakota peoples, as well as the birthplace of the nation. 8 00:00:56,370 --> 00:01:02,370 I acknowledge that Canada's history of colonialism and genocide continue to deeply harm indigenous communities, 9 00:01:02,370 --> 00:01:06,300 and I am committed to listening to indigenous people throughout my work in cultural 10 00:01:06,300 --> 00:01:10,680 institutions and learning as much as I can in order to move forward with truth, 11 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,340 reconciliation and restitution. And today will be interviewing. 12 00:01:14,340 --> 00:01:23,790 Solomon E. A. Solomon Innes is an indigenous artist from Hawaii who works in a variety of mediums, including contemporary pieces. 13 00:01:23,790 --> 00:01:31,110 He has worked extensively with the Pitt Rivers Museum and is here today to talk about his experience working with the 14 00:01:31,110 --> 00:01:39,990 Pitt Rivers Museum as an artist and to share his perspectives on the practises and policies of the Pitt Rivers Museum. 15 00:01:39,990 --> 00:01:46,800 OK, first question can you tell us just a bit about your experience working with the Pitt Rivers? 16 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:50,820 Sure. Absolutely. It was a call I got by corps. 17 00:01:50,820 --> 00:01:56,460 She had reached out to me with their interest of creating an intervention piece in the museum. 18 00:01:56,460 --> 00:02:04,350 I was absolutely honoured. I must say I have different load, but I guess it's a real big fan of everything British. 19 00:02:04,350 --> 00:02:07,800 My grandmother is from England and so I've had a chance to visit England several 20 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:13,510 times and I basically I'm listening to the BBC radio like all day long. 21 00:02:13,510 --> 00:02:20,910 I even spend time listening to the BBC Radio four and I love to hear the shipping a shipping report. 22 00:02:20,910 --> 00:02:25,180 You know, little things like that. So I have a real big fan of everything. 23 00:02:25,180 --> 00:02:28,500 You know, British and so in whole our royalty, 24 00:02:28,500 --> 00:02:35,350 it really had a strong connexion with British culture because at the time we were between America and England, 25 00:02:35,350 --> 00:02:39,360 you know, as far as our it came to our kingdom, but any rolling it for it, 26 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:44,370 it's really wonderful to continue to collaborate and to work with you folks. 27 00:02:44,370 --> 00:02:51,150 And especially because the level of sensitivity and the layer of storytelling that is being achieved 28 00:02:51,150 --> 00:02:57,870 for the museum is setting such an important standard for how stories get told about the artefacts. 29 00:02:57,870 --> 00:03:03,990 It's a real, real careful line, and I'm sure it's happening with so many other folks. 30 00:03:03,990 --> 00:03:11,010 I'm really interested in what's what's been going on with the I believe is like the beginning the collections of materials that have 31 00:03:11,010 --> 00:03:17,010 come from Africa and that real big discussion about whether those things get returned or whether they get on they put on display. 32 00:03:17,010 --> 00:03:22,830 And it's such a dual sided thing because on one hand, artefacts should go home to where they're from. 33 00:03:22,830 --> 00:03:29,280 But at the same time, there's opportunity to understand not only through, you know, stories are important, 34 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:34,680 but the actual artefacts actually be able to look at something and to see a feather, 35 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:40,050 a fairly cloak from Hawaii or something like that to be able to see the entire working and the interweaving of everything. 36 00:03:40,050 --> 00:03:46,350 Those pieces are also a kind of ambassadors as well, so I can definitely see the two sides of it. 37 00:03:46,350 --> 00:03:56,160 But I think the level of sensitivity again, it sets such important standards for how stories get told about the materials that represent the culture. 38 00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:01,920 So, yeah, I'm going to be giving pretty much five stars for most of these questions. 39 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,140 So, you know, just just because I get I mean, 40 00:04:04,140 --> 00:04:12,750 I've never had this level of care and sensitivity attributed to cultural artefacts that, you know, for me as a Native Hawaiian. 41 00:04:12,750 --> 00:04:18,390 Are these really extensions of me and my ancestors and all of you know, all those people in Hawaii? 42 00:04:18,390 --> 00:04:25,740 Can you tell me, how does this personal experience that you've had with the Pitt rivers compared to the policy? 43 00:04:25,740 --> 00:04:30,510 What were your initial reactions to reading some of the things in the policy? 44 00:04:30,510 --> 00:04:38,130 Well, it really sets a standard for being able to retroactively go through the some of the archives and some 45 00:04:38,130 --> 00:04:46,200 of the materials as what you guys are doing helps to make up for centuries of misrepresentation. 46 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:50,010 So I think for the most part, both the policies as they were written, you know, 47 00:04:50,010 --> 00:04:55,980 as you guys presented them to me and how it actually played out is was completely in sync. 48 00:04:55,980 --> 00:05:01,740 So I think I think that way that policies were implemented were completely in line with what actually happened. 49 00:05:01,740 --> 00:05:08,500 So glowing reviews. I'm so glad to hear that because I'm Canadian and there's a lot of very negative. 50 00:05:08,500 --> 00:05:14,260 Stories about Western Canadians interacting with sort of indigenous people who live on Turtle Island as well, 51 00:05:14,260 --> 00:05:16,780 so there's not always a great relationship, 52 00:05:16,780 --> 00:05:23,320 so it's really good to hear and we're learning a lot, particularly with Marine Corps, about the idea of objects having lives. 53 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:27,490 And I would absolutely love to hear more of that perspective from you about objects 54 00:05:27,490 --> 00:05:31,360 having sort of their own lived experiences and their own lives within the museum, 55 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:35,830 because I'm not sure that the policy always sort of takes that into account, but it's a bit more clinical. 56 00:05:35,830 --> 00:05:44,530 Sure. I think one thing I really want to hone in on is definitely objects being, you know, again, an expense of actual people, 57 00:05:44,530 --> 00:05:51,730 a book of a culture and overarching view of why I think this is so important and why I really honoured to have a chance to work with you, folks. 58 00:05:51,730 --> 00:05:59,020 This is what many of our ancient cultures remind us and this and our indigenous cultures, that's what it reminds us of. 59 00:05:59,020 --> 00:06:08,350 And I always wonder, whenever I talk about native indigenous cultures, I also really want to be sure to include, to a degree, absolutely everybody. 60 00:06:08,350 --> 00:06:12,880 Everybody is indigenous and everybody is native to somewhere. 61 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:19,180 By acknowledging the indigenous and other people, we are working towards respecting their own indigenous. 62 00:06:19,180 --> 00:06:23,650 Yes, well, this is how we should all be treated. This is all all our artefacts to be treated. 63 00:06:23,650 --> 00:06:30,580 I understand that distinction between an indigenous person and then somebody maybe not be indigenous to that place. 64 00:06:30,580 --> 00:06:38,350 But at the same time, I'm trying to find a way to make sure that when we talk about honouring objects that come from humans, 65 00:06:38,350 --> 00:06:42,040 that it is something that is collective. What are the lessons that that holds, 66 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:52,450 I think for modern society is that the things that we wore like if I have a copper cloak or a copper skirt in ancient Hawaii, 67 00:06:52,450 --> 00:06:54,220 I knew where that came from. 68 00:06:54,220 --> 00:07:02,620 If I was 500 years ago and I was wearing this clothes, I saw my grandmother harvests the bulkier bushes or the bulky plant, 69 00:07:02,620 --> 00:07:06,340 and I saw her ferment it, and then I saw her beat it into copper. 70 00:07:06,340 --> 00:07:13,360 And then now I'm wearing it as an ancient person. I know the genealogy, so to speak of the things I'm wearing. 71 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,430 And because of that, I appreciate this. 72 00:07:16,430 --> 00:07:23,410 I understand and also by watching my grandmother make that clock, I've learnt how to do it and I'm going to make it right. 73 00:07:23,410 --> 00:07:30,370 In today's society, I don't know where this shirt came from. You know, I don't know if the people who made this shirt. 74 00:07:30,370 --> 00:07:35,350 I don't know if they're safe. I don't know if they were living and working conditions where they're I mean, maybe, maybe they are. 75 00:07:35,350 --> 00:07:41,770 Maybe, I don't know. We've come from a time when we don't know what the objects around us right now are modern objects. 76 00:07:41,770 --> 00:07:46,510 We don't know who made them. We don't know how those, how they're doing. 77 00:07:46,510 --> 00:07:50,500 So I think that to me is almost like the subtext for making sure that the stories 78 00:07:50,500 --> 00:07:55,300 are told about all the object is a reminder for us today to look around us and say, 79 00:07:55,300 --> 00:08:03,820 Well, you know, we're living in our own museum and we should know the name to our computers are our headphones. 80 00:08:03,820 --> 00:08:07,540 Like, who are the people that are making things around this? How are they? 81 00:08:07,540 --> 00:08:13,000 And are they? Well, you know? So I think that's that's sort of the subtext which may not always be caught, 82 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:21,010 but I think that's what I want to bring up is that it's important for us to label sort of everything about labelling matters, 83 00:08:21,010 --> 00:08:26,830 labelling everything we own matters to. You know, I think that's something I would even I would extend that idea. 84 00:08:26,830 --> 00:08:37,090 Totally agree with your point about the sort of disconnect that we have in the modern world, but also in the Pitt Rivers collection and in the policy, 85 00:08:37,090 --> 00:08:48,730 there's a lot more detail or focus on the collectors and not as much focus on the artists who made the collections. 86 00:08:48,730 --> 00:08:54,160 Where were they taken from? What do you think of that? How do you think the museum can rectify that? 87 00:08:54,160 --> 00:09:01,420 Part of the exhibit of ancient artefacts from a place is to bring in the modern voice that we're descendants of 88 00:09:01,420 --> 00:09:09,280 those people and having them talk about what it feels like to have their artefacts in other parts of the world. 89 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:16,840 I think it's important for for the museum to present so that, say, Hawaiians, who don't want the artefacts to be shown and want them all back. 90 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:22,750 I'm definitely on the other end with a bit more. I mean, I think artefacts, when they need to return, they need to return. 91 00:09:22,750 --> 00:09:28,360 But at the same time, in order for a culture to survive, education is such an important part. 92 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:33,310 In other words, it's easier to be erased if people don't even know you in the first place. 93 00:09:33,310 --> 00:09:41,800 Right? And I think that is part of a cultural resurgence is letting the world showing the world the degree of excellence that goes into our artefacts, 94 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:43,600 that goes into the things that our ancestors made. 95 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:53,380 So I think the museum should potentially give voice to give some labelling or to give some information from 96 00:09:53,380 --> 00:09:59,860 people who are opposed to those artefacts being there and why they think artefacts should not be there. 97 00:09:59,860 --> 00:10:06,580 So in other words, it's a bit tricky because you almost want to say here these artefacts, you're the people that made it, you're the descendants. 98 00:10:06,580 --> 00:10:10,360 Some of them agree that. Should be here. Some of them don't want this to be here, 99 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,200 and this is why they don't want to be here to give the opposing view why these 100 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:17,170 artefacts should be here and into the museum would then probably have to say, 101 00:10:17,170 --> 00:10:21,170 like, we acknowledge these things, but then this is why we're deciding to keep it here, though. 102 00:10:21,170 --> 00:10:26,320 So ultimately, try to offer two sides of the coin why the museum made that final decision. 103 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:30,460 Maybe it's superfluous, you know, maybe it's going too much, 104 00:10:30,460 --> 00:10:35,290 but I think that might be helpful and it might be helpful right across the board for so many other different 105 00:10:35,290 --> 00:10:42,220 kinds of is the gift to give room for the dissenting voices about why the artefacts should all be returned. 106 00:10:42,220 --> 00:10:47,710 We've been learning a lot again in courses and as well with Muranga about dissenting voices and also 107 00:10:47,710 --> 00:10:53,680 about museum administrators being a little bit reticent to sort of have these voices presented, 108 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:57,490 which is not really a tenable position going forward. 109 00:10:57,490 --> 00:11:03,940 Since more people are coming forward and this whole idea of transparency of history, it was always important. 110 00:11:03,940 --> 00:11:08,590 But it's becoming more and more well-known now where people want to have all viewpoints explored. 111 00:11:08,590 --> 00:11:14,170 Whereas, you know, for the Pitt rivers specifically, thus far there's been the Western British colonial voice, 112 00:11:14,170 --> 00:11:19,150 whereas now they're representing all of these different communities. They should have their voices there. 113 00:11:19,150 --> 00:11:24,940 And it's been really interesting working with Marenco as well to talk about sort of the idea of objects with agency, 114 00:11:24,940 --> 00:11:31,540 not just people who made these objects with agency, but how the objects themselves sort of have agency. 115 00:11:31,540 --> 00:11:37,810 So do you think that there is a way for the policy to present the idea of an object with agency? 116 00:11:37,810 --> 00:11:44,950 Because thus far, you know, the policy is very much focussed on the collectors and what the museum does with their collections, 117 00:11:44,950 --> 00:11:48,730 but it's not so much focussed on, OK, what do these collections do for themselves? 118 00:11:48,730 --> 00:11:51,640 And do you think that there's a way that the policy can better reflect that? 119 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:58,150 I think I'm just going to give you guys a short answer for this one because I'm just so happy that you guys are already doing what you're doing. 120 00:11:58,150 --> 00:12:03,730 It's it's almost like I feel like if I do whatever I recommend, 121 00:12:03,730 --> 00:12:09,400 I think just based on what I've been hearing and what I've been reading and conversations that I've had with Miranda, 122 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:15,460 if I say, Hey, you should do this, you should do that, then I think it seems like you folks would be like, Yes, we're getting there. 123 00:12:15,460 --> 00:12:16,810 Those things are already on the bench. 124 00:12:16,810 --> 00:12:22,660 So anything I have to recommend really already seems like that's the direction that you folks are already taking. 125 00:12:22,660 --> 00:12:25,810 I mean, like I said, the only other thing I was going to mention is what you're already doing, 126 00:12:25,810 --> 00:12:32,620 which is to then involve contemporary artists who are still making artefacts. 127 00:12:32,620 --> 00:12:38,440 We're still making objects is to include their work with their ancestral work. 128 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:45,370 You guys are already doing that. So I would just say more of these art intervention pieces because, you know, 129 00:12:45,370 --> 00:12:55,300 contemporary art coming from a place is such an important way to reconnect that with the the ancient art that they came from that place as well. 130 00:12:55,300 --> 00:13:03,010 So long story short, you folks are already doing. I think one of the most important things, which is saying that this culture is not gone, 131 00:13:03,010 --> 00:13:08,170 it's not a was culture, it's it is culture and it's going to be culture. 132 00:13:08,170 --> 00:13:19,360 Yeah, contemporary artists and modern people's voices, people who are living now and are part of that culture and that heritage is so, so important. 133 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:24,130 And that's, yeah, part of the work that I think we're trying to do here. 134 00:13:24,130 --> 00:13:32,380 So your perspective as a contemporary artist and having some of your work in the Pitt rivers 135 00:13:32,380 --> 00:13:40,180 or collaborating with the rivers in the policy when the policy refers to collecting pieces, 136 00:13:40,180 --> 00:13:42,340 even contemporary artworks, 137 00:13:42,340 --> 00:13:51,790 a lot of the focus and prioritisation or protection in a way is given to the collectors rather than the artists themselves. 138 00:13:51,790 --> 00:13:53,440 What is your opinion on that? 139 00:13:53,440 --> 00:14:02,200 How do you think the museum official policy can better protect and respect the artists who make all of the objects in the museum's collections? 140 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:13,210 I think basically not speaking about the culture as if it were in the past tense some way to be able to involve the contemporary artists of the place. 141 00:14:13,210 --> 00:14:18,610 Maybe that would be the conversation is that how much space is allocated for every culture 142 00:14:18,610 --> 00:14:24,310 to have a modern representation present with all collections wherever it makes sense. 143 00:14:24,310 --> 00:14:29,830 Let's say you have a hundred and fifty different cultures represented. You may have 300. 144 00:14:29,830 --> 00:14:39,280 You may. You may have nine. I'm not quite sure how many or how you would categorise a different culture relative in whatever that criteria is. 145 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:44,020 Boy, if you could have something contemporary whenever possible. 146 00:14:44,020 --> 00:14:48,940 Obviously, some cultures have turned into other cultures over millennia and millennia, 147 00:14:48,940 --> 00:14:56,860 and it's hard to say who's entered by the Indian today, you know? I probably totally distorting that the new policy really, 148 00:14:56,860 --> 00:15:04,120 really put much more emphasis on on the story of the place of contemporary artists that are making work. 149 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:07,580 So it's there's so much good things that policies are working. 150 00:15:07,580 --> 00:15:19,190 Towards I couldn't quite give much more feedback other than what I just keep doing it and maybe try to get as much as much contemporary 151 00:15:19,190 --> 00:15:27,590 representation intermingled with it so that the viewer can kind of see a sense of continuity between the past and the present, 152 00:15:27,590 --> 00:15:36,800 as opposed to always thinking about things in the past. Yeah, it's been. We spoke this morning with Dr Bowditch, who's at the the U of T, 153 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:43,290 and she was talking sort of a lot about how practise is very easy to change and because, you know, you just do it. 154 00:15:43,290 --> 00:15:49,820 And that's one of the things that the Pitt Rivers has been up to. But the policy that's currently implemented, it is open access. 155 00:15:49,820 --> 00:15:53,900 Everyone can see it. It's been it's been reviewed sort of every five years. 156 00:15:53,900 --> 00:15:58,220 But thus far, the only sort of mention of contemporary their practise is, you know, 157 00:15:58,220 --> 00:16:04,490 fantastic was that or at least it's as good as any museum in the beginnings of decolonisation can be. 158 00:16:04,490 --> 00:16:11,540 But so far, their policy, which any museum can see or anybody on the internet can see it only ever mentions 159 00:16:11,540 --> 00:16:17,120 contemporary artists very briefly in their sort of collections practise section. 160 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:23,210 But the history of the museum is very much focussed on the British colonial administrator, the one who went and collected it. 161 00:16:23,210 --> 00:16:28,280 And I think in some sections they mentioned about 14 different people who actually collected them. 162 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:31,520 But they don't mention any of the people who actually sort of made it. 163 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:39,320 And they do refer, I think, to one colonial administrator as a distinguished colonial administrator, 164 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:43,700 which is maybe not the word you want to use in conjunction with Colonial. 165 00:16:43,700 --> 00:16:51,140 Great. Great. Great, great. Great. Sounds to me like so much of that is almost like there's just some tweaks that need to be done in the terminology. 166 00:16:51,140 --> 00:16:57,590 I guess it's so close. It's so much more improved than it was even, I would guess, fifty years ago or 20 years ago. 167 00:16:57,590 --> 00:17:02,270 That's my guess. And the fact that you guys are asking these very questions means that it's only going to prove more. 168 00:17:02,270 --> 00:17:06,500 I'm so thrilled that you're happy with what the Pitt Rivers is doing because I know we can always do more, 169 00:17:06,500 --> 00:17:08,240 but I'm so thrilled that you're happy with it. 170 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:13,880 If we were to rewrite and of course we will, because it's atrocious their history section, I can say that on the record. 171 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:22,820 But if they were going to rewrite the history section with sort of a more nuanced understanding, how would you like to see Hawaii represented? 172 00:17:22,820 --> 00:17:32,510 Maybe the thing that I would reflect on and I really haven't come across this level of sensitivity through any, any kind of museum. 173 00:17:32,510 --> 00:17:35,600 I've worked with the Smithsonian. They're doing some good stuff. 174 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:41,810 But this level of self-awareness, as far as the museum goes, the museum understanding its own legacy. 175 00:17:41,810 --> 00:17:44,270 It's an extension of the British Empire, 176 00:17:44,270 --> 00:17:53,240 and that whole conversation is so much that I feel really confident that whatever things get changed or whatever things get rewritten, 177 00:17:53,240 --> 00:18:02,900 particularly about what we are going to have a much deeper representation of indigenous and native voices and feedback. 178 00:18:02,900 --> 00:18:07,460 I feel really confident that that whatever you guys do come up with is going to 179 00:18:07,460 --> 00:18:11,540 really strongly reflect just based upon the questions you're already asking people, 180 00:18:11,540 --> 00:18:20,840 you know, whatever whatever they present is going to be really close to being fairly strongly representative of things that would be coming from very, 181 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:26,180 very glad to hear it. Because like I said, there's a lot of horror stories, especially in North America, 182 00:18:26,180 --> 00:18:32,000 with the sort of indigenous engagement with museums not going very well or not being properly representative. 183 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:37,330 And so you worked with the Smithsonian, which is super, super cool. 184 00:18:37,330 --> 00:18:37,910 I love that. 185 00:18:37,910 --> 00:18:46,850 And how did you find that their policies towards sort of representing indigenous cultures as being very present and alive compared to the rivers, 186 00:18:46,850 --> 00:18:51,980 I mean, might have to do a little tweaking on air with a Smithsonian there, but I would love to. 187 00:18:51,980 --> 00:18:57,110 I would love to know how the two experiences kind of compare it and how their policies better reflected that, 188 00:18:57,110 --> 00:19:02,300 or how ours could improve as well or practises if you're not familiar with the policy. 189 00:19:02,300 --> 00:19:06,920 Well, I would definitely. I would definitely speak directly to the the actual events that I've done with them. 190 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:14,900 One series that I did in 2010, I believe, and it was at the museum for the Native American. 191 00:19:14,900 --> 00:19:22,730 It was called this transformer exhibit. What it was was I did a whole piece on Hawaiian futurism or Hawaiian science fiction, 192 00:19:22,730 --> 00:19:30,710 and they included that as a kind of an interventionist piece, talking about the status of the indigenous peoples of the Americas today. 193 00:19:30,710 --> 00:19:35,210 They did a whole piece about kind of indigenous futurism, which was really a lot of fun, right? 194 00:19:35,210 --> 00:19:38,810 Because it says native peoples are still alive. 195 00:19:38,810 --> 00:19:48,210 All these cultures are resurging, and that indigenous knowledge has application for mainstream audiences today. 196 00:19:48,210 --> 00:19:57,320 So sort of like the people that have been so oppressed, so to speak, have have wisdom to help the people that have been oppressing them. 197 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:02,870 I mean, I aspire to see the time when we don't talk about things in terms of oppressor and the press, 198 00:20:02,870 --> 00:20:08,310 you know, victims and victimisers because, you know, ultimately, hopefully those will follow. 199 00:20:08,310 --> 00:20:10,770 Once enough time has passed, but the dusty ceiling, 200 00:20:10,770 --> 00:20:15,690 as has happened and what's enough understanding conversations have happened between different cultures. 201 00:20:15,690 --> 00:20:19,470 I then went on and did a couple other events called Cultural Labs. 202 00:20:19,470 --> 00:20:27,600 One of them was in Manhattan and another one was in Honolulu. And this was in 2016 and 2017, 203 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:32,760 and the whole thing was the US speaking about Asian Pacific Islander cultures being on the 204 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:37,530 cutting edge of a lot of different kinds of social sciences and different things like that. 205 00:20:37,530 --> 00:20:42,150 Smithsonian puts a lot of work in striking about culture as a living, 206 00:20:42,150 --> 00:20:47,670 breathing thing that you can interact with, that you're going to be surprised by that. 207 00:20:47,670 --> 00:20:54,060 There are so many more parts to a culture than we get a chance to see. 208 00:20:54,060 --> 00:21:03,300 And that often giving the opportunity for cultures themselves to speak through their contemporary audiences through their contemporary artists. 209 00:21:03,300 --> 00:21:08,410 As far as Hawaii, for example, I can now share my culture in all kinds of new ways. 210 00:21:08,410 --> 00:21:14,400 But again, I'm always very interested in science fiction and fantasy and all these different things so I can talk about my 211 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:20,820 Hawaiian culture in these new genre that allows them to get to people who like science fiction about the sea, 212 00:21:20,820 --> 00:21:24,780 for example. Or as the work I did with Pitt Rivers was, 213 00:21:24,780 --> 00:21:32,280 I did a deep dive Hawaiian mythology and my take on one part of Hawaii mythology that wasn't really quite explored. 214 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:40,400 But I'm given the freedom as an indigenous person to say I'm continuing the work of my ancestors. 215 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,880 This is a continuation of what was done a thousand years ago. 216 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:53,730 I'm continuing to do it today. And, you know, having whole exhibits based upon viewing indigenous culture, 217 00:21:53,730 --> 00:22:08,010 moving into the future and giving the opportunity for indigenous peoples to share wisdom that has immediate application for contemporary audiences. 218 00:22:08,010 --> 00:22:11,790 So the Smithsonian put a whole whole event all around, 219 00:22:11,790 --> 00:22:19,170 showing how indigenous wisdom has application for contemporary audiences so the peer reviewers can do something similar, 220 00:22:19,170 --> 00:22:21,900 obviously, but not quite on the scale of Smithsonian. 221 00:22:21,900 --> 00:22:28,260 And you folks already are in a respect that I'm having the opportunity to share my work and to share with you folks today. 222 00:22:28,260 --> 00:22:33,360 It's so great to hear that your experience with the Pitt Rivers has been so good. 223 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:39,690 And I think that's also why we think it's very important that the policy the official Pitt Rivers policy 224 00:22:39,690 --> 00:22:47,160 reflects the practises that the Pitt Rivers is implementing now that we're sort of striving for. 225 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:54,270 Yeah, there's an interesting community sort of partnership that the Pitt Rivers has with the with the Haida in B.C. 226 00:22:54,270 --> 00:22:56,970 I'm not entirely sure of the entire logistics of it, 227 00:22:56,970 --> 00:23:03,990 but the gist of it is that a group of Haida come to the rivers to sort of observe their ancestors culture. 228 00:23:03,990 --> 00:23:08,610 Do you see sort of a programme like that being written into the museum's policies thus far? 229 00:23:08,610 --> 00:23:16,680 There's no real sort of opportunity for engagement written into the policies, especially when, of course, the progress is so far away from Hawaii. 230 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:21,780 So do you see sort of a way that the Pitt Rivers could include that in their policies, 231 00:23:21,780 --> 00:23:31,350 a programme or a set policy where Indigenous Hawaiians, who do want to come to the museum and engage with their artefacts be paid to do so. 232 00:23:31,350 --> 00:23:36,420 Or if there are ways that the policy could sort of include that a little bit better actual like physical engagement? 233 00:23:36,420 --> 00:23:43,950 Absolutely. I think that if there could be, you know, whether it would be something on a smaller scale than what the Smithsonian does, 234 00:23:43,950 --> 00:23:52,590 but like an opportunity for kind of like a space or time for native peoples to gather and share kind of like a cultural workshop or a culture lab, 235 00:23:52,590 --> 00:23:56,040 kind of the thing where they invite, you know, throughout the year, 236 00:23:56,040 --> 00:24:00,990 either guests or they have it as part of a big workshop or a big event where you have individuals, 237 00:24:00,990 --> 00:24:07,800 people who works are at the museum be present to do cultural engagement on some form. 238 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:12,540 But I think the happy medium is I'm doing zoom conversations, you know, and having, 239 00:24:12,540 --> 00:24:17,280 you know, presentations where you can physically five people there then as well. 240 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:24,360 You could just, you know, we could have these sort of conversations with the partner, their audience, the folks that would visit the museum. 241 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:30,930 But I think I would love to come and visit. So I'd be, I mean, like, I think, every opportunity to go to England. 242 00:24:30,930 --> 00:24:35,430 But yeah, I think that there is a there's definitely that opportunity. 243 00:24:35,430 --> 00:24:36,300 And for some reason, 244 00:24:36,300 --> 00:24:47,880 there's something that's coming up in my mind now that I'm just going to mention that if there's some way for there to be some kind of connexion, 245 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:55,050 whether this is an event or whether this is something that is a collaboration, maybe this is what's in my mind right now. 246 00:24:55,050 --> 00:24:56,580 Immediately, I'm thinking, like, 247 00:24:56,580 --> 00:25:04,680 what would be wonderful would be for there to be some kind of a collaboration with indigenous artists could be a miracle. 248 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:13,840 It could be some kind of a piece or something or some kind of a. Is that having a conversation about the indigenous needs of the peoples of England? 249 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:18,210 You go back two thousand years. Right. You go back two thousand years and England, right? 250 00:25:18,210 --> 00:25:22,830 You have you have people that were they were island people, right? 251 00:25:22,830 --> 00:25:25,440 It's a big island, but it's an island that island culture, right? 252 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:36,610 So finding some kind of a cool way to remind the British audience, the British public, that when we talk about the land, we talk about the oceans, 253 00:25:36,610 --> 00:25:37,950 when we talk about our call, 254 00:25:37,950 --> 00:25:48,960 our gods and our belief systems allowed us to live in relative harmony with each other and our natural ecosystems where the River Museum is. 255 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,290 I mean, you go back a thousand years, you have examples, 256 00:25:52,290 --> 00:25:58,980 you have examples of people we're living who made their clothes, who know where their clothes come from, you know? 257 00:25:58,980 --> 00:26:04,140 So maybe what I would love to see is for the Pitt Rivers to actually look at the 258 00:26:04,140 --> 00:26:11,400 idea that indigenous and indigenous wisdom is right outside the front door. 259 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:18,120 And that would be wonderful to actually have the focus on having native people come to and worked 260 00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:26,100 with folks who consider themselves to be connected with England's indigenous cultures and practises. 261 00:26:26,100 --> 00:26:36,690 So something to say that actually to almost get the distinguished collector part of English culture, move that aside and actually say, 262 00:26:36,690 --> 00:26:44,850 we want to connect indigenous to remind that all of these artefacts that we see come from a different parts of the world. 263 00:26:44,850 --> 00:26:48,570 It would be wonderful to have them connect with ancient England. 264 00:26:48,570 --> 00:26:53,520 Ancient Hopi, ancient England need to meet up so that we that would be kind of a fun thing. 265 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:59,820 Well, I think the US has always been sort of taking suggestions, but as of right now on this podcast, we're taking suggestions and I love that, 266 00:26:59,820 --> 00:27:02,400 especially since in the policy in particular, 267 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:08,490 there's not really there's a big separation between what is sort of considered to be indigenous and what is considered to be modern. 268 00:27:08,490 --> 00:27:15,480 So there's not really it's a fairly big divide that they try and put forward that if something is indigenous, it cannot also be modern. 269 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:20,610 So what I absolutely love about that is it's sort of breaking down the whole idea of modernity 270 00:27:20,610 --> 00:27:26,310 entirely and bringing it into just we all have this sort of connexion through our land to each other. 271 00:27:26,310 --> 00:27:32,280 And if we take away all of sort of qualifying factors that the museum tries to impose on us, there's a lot of similarities. 272 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:39,270 And I I just love that I think it's what the museum really should be all about, and also that indigenous cultures are not dead. 273 00:27:39,270 --> 00:27:43,860 They're not in the past. They are also modern. Absolutely. 274 00:27:43,860 --> 00:27:51,840 You know, just try to simplify it as much as possible. And my I mean, I know oversimplification is dangerous because then we lose things. 275 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:57,180 But it's sometimes it's easier to fit it into our pocket because easier to kind of remember these simple ideas. 276 00:27:57,180 --> 00:28:01,710 And to me, I've been meditating on this a lot is that contemporary cultures, modern cultures, 277 00:28:01,710 --> 00:28:07,950 we seem to be able to solve all kinds of problems like we can solve technological problems. 278 00:28:07,950 --> 00:28:12,690 But there's one major problem that we have been working on for millennia, 279 00:28:12,690 --> 00:28:24,210 and native cultures have found a way to work through this, which is ego, greed, the desire to covet or conquer. 280 00:28:24,210 --> 00:28:27,810 There's all these things that are happening on current events right now. 281 00:28:27,810 --> 00:28:35,220 You know, you have all of these wars that are happening in our world today, and we don't understand what it means to be human. 282 00:28:35,220 --> 00:28:39,390 Now we understand how to build buildings. We know how to make aeroplanes. 283 00:28:39,390 --> 00:28:46,920 But it seems like the things that live in the buildings and the things that fly in the aeroplanes, we don't know what they are. 284 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:52,620 So it's almost like modern cultures can solve all of these modern issues. 285 00:28:52,620 --> 00:28:59,400 But native people needed to do what Hawaiians needed to do was you can, for example, you can have a great canoe. 286 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:06,690 But if everybody on the canoe is fighting with each other and they don't know how to get along, that canoe isn't going to go anywhere. 287 00:29:06,690 --> 00:29:13,110 So I think native cultures have solutions for the human conundrum. 288 00:29:13,110 --> 00:29:20,820 How did ancient cultures, what are ancient laws, what the ancient laws look like, what the ancient societal systems look like, 289 00:29:20,820 --> 00:29:30,630 maybe including that part of the conversation understanding what it means to be human is something that we're woefully behind. 290 00:29:30,630 --> 00:29:35,700 If compassion is a technology, you know, we're way behind on that. 291 00:29:35,700 --> 00:29:38,880 We're advancing in all these other areas except for what it means to be human. 292 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:44,040 And again, I think that's where the understanding ancient cultures and how they lived, 293 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:49,380 if they lived in harmony and how they lived in harmony is an important lesson that we can take. 294 00:29:49,380 --> 00:29:58,680 And generally speaking, you know, these beautiful artefacts we can infer from these artefacts the help of the culture that the artefacts came from. 295 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:03,570 Beautiful art came from times eras in societies when there was peace. 296 00:30:03,570 --> 00:30:07,760 Right? Not always, obviously, but. 297 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:12,070 Societies are in relative peace. The artists have time to work. 298 00:30:12,070 --> 00:30:17,120 You know, it's a big, broad ideas and hopefully some parts of these are useful, of course. 299 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:23,210 And I think that pretty well leads into the one final thing that I sort of wanted to ask about is that the policy, 300 00:30:23,210 --> 00:30:29,480 as it stands, it's very clinical, it's very object focussed and even colonial focussed. 301 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:36,020 But it doesn't sort of take into account what you're talking about, sort of the emotional and the human connexion and the side of that. 302 00:30:36,020 --> 00:30:37,220 So can you tell us a little bit, 303 00:30:37,220 --> 00:30:44,690 how do you think the policy can account for that and how important that it is for museums to sort of be places of emotion and spirituality as well? 304 00:30:44,690 --> 00:30:53,900 Well, I would love to see perhaps maybe some opportunity for some virtual reality the idea of image maps rooms. 305 00:30:53,900 --> 00:31:01,490 So having over and projected on all four walls would be what it would be like to be an ancient Hawaii. 306 00:31:01,490 --> 00:31:05,160 You know, a thousand years ago, you're on the beach, you look around, 307 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:14,360 you're looking at the land and you're looking at healthy rich soils, you're looking at amazing coconut groves and everything. 308 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:15,590 And then you're looking at the ocean. 309 00:31:15,590 --> 00:31:20,240 You see, I look at the ocean, you'd see all the canoes that are going out there and you're and you're saying like, 310 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:26,900 this is an example of a healthy culture. And this is what it looks like when a when a people of that help and that, you know, 311 00:31:26,900 --> 00:31:30,710 may be sitting next to you or just off on the wall or somebody and they're making an artefact, 312 00:31:30,710 --> 00:31:36,350 you know, they're making copper and you see that they're smiling and they're having a conversation with somebody and it's like, 313 00:31:36,350 --> 00:31:44,510 you get to be an astral Voyager or you get to be a time traveller and you get to sit down and then you hear the noises 314 00:31:44,510 --> 00:31:50,690 and maybe there's a little perfume or something smells like some of our native flowers was wafting through that. 315 00:31:50,690 --> 00:31:56,180 But if that isn't as feasible, or I mean, if that is something that has, that is as doable sooner. 316 00:31:56,180 --> 00:32:01,070 I love dioramas, you know, having little scenes and museums do this right. 317 00:32:01,070 --> 00:32:04,940 They'll have like the village diorama. You kind to see all the little people. 318 00:32:04,940 --> 00:32:10,650 But that would look like that may not be as strong as an immersive space. 319 00:32:10,650 --> 00:32:24,230 And talking about this idea of what it was like for a native person pre contact before anyone to write to, it's kind of like to interrupt a culture. 320 00:32:24,230 --> 00:32:32,960 What did the culture look like and what did it feel like for those native people when their worldview was healthy, 321 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:39,320 right when they were in their space and when they were in their time? I think something like that would be wonderful, 322 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:44,360 and for that to be sort of a rotating exhibit where there's different cultures are represented at different times 323 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:51,350 of the year and you get basically a day in the life of what it was like for those indigenous people to be born, 324 00:32:51,350 --> 00:32:56,600 to live and to die in a time when they knew who they were, they knew why they were. 325 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:02,000 They knew how they were. They knew when they were, you know, they did what they were, why they were. 326 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:08,720 But it's a better way. It kind of put things back into context that the museum is not storytelling, right? 327 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:16,370 It becomes that the museum is like a stage. It becomes a platform for the native people to speak for themselves. 328 00:33:16,370 --> 00:33:19,310 It's important to have a platform, but it's important to have a stage. 329 00:33:19,310 --> 00:33:25,280 It's important for these stories to be shared around the world, and I personally think, you know, 330 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:31,640 when I think about how information gets shared, I look at our native plants and I look at plants. 331 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:37,910 In general, plants make lots of lots and lots of seeds, and they're not too picky about who's going to share their seeds. 332 00:33:37,910 --> 00:33:43,490 If people want to take my seeds, go for it, because if I share my seeds, I know I'm going to live on. 333 00:33:43,490 --> 00:33:50,850 So just based upon that simple principle, I believe cultures need to be shared and perpetuated. 334 00:33:50,850 --> 00:33:57,520 But that plant also needs to be taken care of, and we have to take care of the plants we have at the same time. 335 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:05,060 Prepare for the new plants, giving people an experience of a day in the life of an indigenous person that where the artefacts 336 00:34:05,060 --> 00:34:11,270 came from that put the artefacts back and you're actually putting them back virtually. 337 00:34:11,270 --> 00:34:16,280 You put the artefacts back virtually because you're actually taking the person from the museum and 338 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:21,620 you're bringing the person to the place as opposed to just bringing the objects to the people. 339 00:34:21,620 --> 00:34:29,600 That would be a wonderful next step, I think, is to have immersive experiences that let the culture speak for itself. 340 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:38,240 I think that's such a great point. That's also something that we talked about in one of our other interviews with Julian Zahida, 341 00:34:38,240 --> 00:34:45,260 artist about this more immersive experience with artefacts, 342 00:34:45,260 --> 00:34:54,290 with the museum's collections and sort of having that interaction with them so that they're not just behind glass windows and 343 00:34:54,290 --> 00:35:04,910 how that more respects the objects agency and then lets it speak for itself and helps the culture also live and be perpetuated. 344 00:35:04,910 --> 00:35:09,280 Yeah. Awesome. And even. That's the augmented reality. 345 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:11,260 I guess there's all these different ways you could use to do it, 346 00:35:11,260 --> 00:35:19,720 but you it by holding up your phone or something and you cease and actually a native person there in your museum making couple or making something. 347 00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:29,650 So, yeah, any any way that it's doable, any way that it's possible, it would be wonderful for that to be the next, the next stage and understanding. 348 00:35:29,650 --> 00:35:33,130 Awesome. Well, we want to thank you just so much for coming to talk to us today. 349 00:35:33,130 --> 00:35:41,050 I've learnt a whole lot and it's been so nice to meet you and thank you for a lot of very poignant stuff that we can use for this podcast. 350 00:35:41,050 --> 00:35:44,920 It's just been so fantastic. Yes, thank you so much. 351 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,190 Absolutely my pleasure. So nice to meet you. Thanks to you all. Take care. 352 00:35:48,190 --> 00:35:56,710 Aloha. That was the Rivers Museum's Matters of Policy podcast produced by Betty Woodhouse. 353 00:35:56,710 --> 00:36:03,940 Yet Boom Snake Man Alexis Boyer and Bobble Hat Sound Music by Jack Forcett. 354 00:36:03,940 --> 00:36:16,519 Voiceover Baiju who let a special thank you to Muranga Thompson, Iceland and the Millet Exchange.