ARTH 6930-Art & Global Diversity

Dr. Pamela Brekka

Reading Response Week 2

Kendra Edgell

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An extremely problematic issue that museums across the world face today, is how objects, artifacts, and artworks specifically of colonized cultures are curated and displayed, and the intentions behind such exhibits. Most museums were created with the intentions to flaunt, boast, and brandish items collected from many native cultures across the world that were colonized by white people. Throughout history, museum curators created displays of items of people that were or believed to collapse or nonextant. Many museum directors, curators, and viewers are now coming to the true realization of the deep seeded colonization of exhibitions and operations and are working to change these core problems within these institutions.

 

In “Decolonizing Museums, Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums,” (2012) by Amy Lonetree, the author’s main point is how many, if not all, tribes and native people, and communities have been damaged and misconstrued by museums exhibitions, leading to the harm of these people. Within the last few decades museums have been working to counteract the harm caused by the colonization of these groups. Lonetree points out that many museums are working with native tribes to create more culturally sensitive and accurate exhibits that are more informative and truer to the native cultures they are display and represent. She points out that although confronting our history and the dark truths within it will be a difficult and ongoing task, the decolonization of museums and of the native people will be transformative, healing, and empowering for our communities and nation.

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Julie Marcus’ article, “Towards an Erotics of the Museum,” (2016), highlights the sexual objectification that many artworks from Aboriginal culture are forced to appropriate. Marcus describes in this article, the continued oppression and marginalization of Aboriginal people through colonization and points to the curator’s failure to provide a true education of the culture of these people. Marcus describes the display and exhibits as more of a theatrical experience curated by the museum and less of an educational experience.

 

Catherine Grant and Dorothy Price ask four questions to ‘decolonize the university’ in their article “Decolonizing Art History.” These questions came to fruition after students in university asked the overarching question, “why is my curriculum white?” (p. 9) The author’s main point in asking these questions were to further the conversation with a range of different voices in the field, and have as many people as possible to participate in the conversation. Grant and Price reported the responses to these questions when asked to a variety of historians, curators, collectors, students, teachers, museum directors and more.

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In this article, Grant and Price had a total of 30 contributors to answer the following questions: “What is the historical specificity of current calls to decolonize art history? How are they different from previous challenges to the discipline (such as postcolonialism, feminism, queer studies, Marxism)? What is your understanding of decolonizing art history now? What does a decolonized art history look like? How should it be written/practiced? How might the decolonization of art history impact upon your own area of research/practice? What would be produced from it? Might anything have to be jettisoned?” (p.10)

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In all three of these readings, the main idea the authors are trying to convey, is the push for decolonization of art history and museums across the world. All are trying to bring light to this major systemic issue that permeates the world of art and art history and ask important questions, bring experience, and suggestions to help reform art museums as we know them today, for a more culturally sensitive and accurate education about people, heritages and nations around the world.

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