The Musée de la civilization de Québec (MCQ) unveiled on Friday Witness coverage, a punchy quilt that unfolds the story of Canada’s residential schools in 887 objects. The monumental work reflects the stain the episode left on Canadian history.
Artist Carey Newman, from the Kwakwaka’wakw and Salish First Nations of British Columbia, traveled 200,000 km, visited 77 communities and met more than 10,000 people to collect the artifacts that weave his blanket. Braided hair. A damaged shoe. Excerpts from letters, a few diaries, lots of photos. So many traces of a long buried history that is slowly surfacing, one testimony at a time.
The work unfolds around a central piece: the door of the residential school for Aboriginals where the sculptor’s uncle, Edwin Newman, suffered abuse. On its surface, a painting, called The priest and his prey, shows a cruel-looking adult bent over a cowering child. Above the lintel, a panel
“I made this work for my daughter, but especially for my father”, explains the creator in a documentary devoted to the pilgrimage which led to the development of the work. Son of a survivor, Carey Newman wanted to exhibit these forgotten objects which tell, sometimes in harsh light, the daily life of the 150,000 Aboriginal children torn from their families between 1870 and 1996 to fill, often by force, the residential schools.
The museum dedicates a full room to the 12-meter work and waives admission fees for Natives until its departure on February 19. The gesture, made on the occasion of the second National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, aims above all to break down the barriers that separate museums and Indigenous peoples.
“From the perspective of the First Nations, a museum is a ‘white affair’,” explains Matthieu Gill-Bougie, an Aboriginal affairs advisor hired last year by the MCQ. It is seen as an elitist, academic institution. »
Quebec museums are more concerned about the place to be given to different cultures than their European counterparts, among whom colonialist hints continue to be sometimes assumed, believes Mr. Gill-Bougie, an anthropologist by training from the Innu nation of Mashteuiatsh .
“Here, people wonder a lot about it and realize that even if the subject is not colonialist, the look can be ethnocentric”, notes the adviser. For the past few years, the Musée de la civilization has taken care to give more prominence to Aboriginal perspectives in its exhibits. “Before, the Aboriginal presence was almost reduced to footnotes,” he says.
The MCQ is also reviewing its methods; rather than imposing extensive paperwork on artists submitting proposals, it opens up to filmed submissions. “Too many forms can discourage any artist, and this is perhaps even more true for Aboriginal artists. We plan to accept proposals made by video to give more space to the spoken word. »
It’s the first time that Witness Blanket is exhibited in Quebec. The Musée de la civilization welcomes it until February 19. A documentary on the making of the work is available for free on Vimeo, in English with French subtitles.