This Dissertation Examines a Series of Catalogues for Inuit Art Exhibitions Held at the Winnipeg
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ONE HUNDRED WORDS FOR CONQUEST ONE HUNDRED WORDS FOR CONQUEST: CURATING ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTY AT THE WINNIPEG ART GALLERY By MARGARET BOYCE, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright by Margaret Boyce, June 2019 McMaster University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2019) Hamilton, Ontario (English and Cultural Studies) TITLE: One Hundred Words for Conquest: Curating Arctic Sovereignty at the Winnipeg Art Gallery AUTHOR: Margaret Boyce, B.A. (McMaster University), M.A. (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Amber Dean NUMBER OF PAGES: vii, 264 ii LAY ABSTRACT In this dissertation, I look at a series of catalogues for Inuit art exhibitions held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG), spanning from 1967 to 2017. I argue that the discursive conventions of settler-Canadian art appreciation, especially those geared towards Inuit creative production, have resonances with the political strategies that Canada uses to prove effective occupation—a term from international law—of the Arctic. My research intervenes in this context by showing how art appreciation encourages modes of effective occupation that are not obviously political, insofar as these modes operate in the realm of affect. The resulting work models some strategies for critiquing forms of settler benevolence that are unique to the art world, and offers a template for how to approach exhibition catalogues as a genre—both of which are underdeveloped areas of scholarship. iii ABSTRACT This dissertation examines a series of catalogues for Inuit art exhibitions held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG), spanning from 1967 to 2017. I argue that the discursive conventions of settler-Canadian art appreciation, especially those geared towards Inuit creative production, have resonances with the political strategies that Canada uses to prove effective occupation—a term from international law—of the Arctic. My work intervenes in this context by showing how art appreciation encourages modes of effective occupation that are not obviously political, insofar as these modes operate in the realm of affect. I first develop a critical framework inspired by Glen Coulthard’s concept of colonial recognition politics, to demonstrate that there is an affirmative recognition politics at work in the WAG catalogues. I then theorize that catalogues’ tendency to oscillate between an ethnographic (contextualist) analysis and an aesthetic (non-contextualist) analysis produces a tension that orients patrons towards the North accordance with Canada’s position on Arctic geopolitics. Building on the work of Eva Mackey, I argue that a mixed ethnographic-aesthetic view of Inuit art activates a particularly expedient form of belonging from afar in settler patron-readers, whereby they are encouraged to feel as if they are of the North, while never having to be there. My third chapter attends to how the WAG narrates the dramatic social transformations that Inuit experienced in the mid-20th century. The catalogues implicitly invalidate many Inuit’s experience of settler-colonial intervention by suggesting that the move to sedentary communities, often at the hands of the settler state, was inevitable and even desirable. This work provides strategies for critiquing instances of settler benevolence that are unique to the art world, and offers a template for how to approach exhibition catalogues as a genre—both of which are areas of scholarship that have been hitherto neglected. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS How could I ever tally, let alone properly thank, all of the people who made this dissertation possible? Of course, Amber Dean is at the top of the list. Amber, your calm, thoughtful, and ethical approach to supervision has been such a gift for me, and I am eternally grateful that I’ve had the chance to work under your guidance these past few years. Your confidence in my ability to finish this project was unwavering. I couldn’t have done it without you. Susie O’Brien, I’ve never forgotten that it was your enthusiastic support for the my overly-ambitious MA research that helped kick-start this project in the first place. Also, I cannot overstate what a treat it has been to get your input on my work throughout grad school, and especially on this dissertation. Rick Monture, your scholarship and instruction has formed the foundation for my research, but also so much of my academic life (and softball!). Beyond my committee, I can see elements of so many other of the remarkable folks in ECS: Daniel, you are truly one of a kind. Thanks for showing me that scholarship can be playful, creative, and caring. Nadine, you are an inspiration; I learned so much from your incisive approach to criticism and argumentation, ever attentive to the assumptions that tend to fly under the radar. Finally, thank you, Mary, for your friendship and encouragement, and for seeing a PhD in my future, long before I ever believed it. I frequently think back to your classes and am reminded of what it means to approach literature with respect, even awe. Experiencing the comradery of grad school has been one of my life’s great pleasures. Thanks to all of my friends and colleagues who took the time to offer feedback on this research, as well as grad school survival tips—especially Kate, Emma, Kassie, Erin, Shandell, Jo, Kal, Anthony, Patrick and Jeff. Thanks to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, as well as McMaster’s English and Cultural Studies department, without whose support I would have had a much more difficult time keeping a roof over my head, never mind finishing this dissertation. Paul, I am indebted to you for your patience and confidence in me. (Nine long years….) One day I’ll pay you back for all the dogs you walked when I was swamped and overwhelmed. Thanks to Marga and Nigel, for reminding me to nap, play, and maybe go outside once in a while. To my family: Mom, thanks for your smarts and for your kind heart, and for thinking that I can do anything, even when I definitely can’t; Steve—my favourite sibling— your tireless cheerleading was a major reason that I was able to stay the course, especially in the final stages of the dissertation. Finally, Dad, even though you’ve gone, the love that you showed me throughout my life continued to lift me up when this project got heavy—although at times I really just needed your proofreading skills! v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Putting Inuit Art to Work for Canadian Arctic Sovereignty…………………………. 1 Exhibition Catalogues: 50 Years of Interpretation 8 Remote Control: Governing the Arctic from a Distance 14 Effective Occupation 22 Shifting from Recognition to Belonging 33 Towards a Theory of Belonging from Afar 37 Chapter One Inuit Art Appreciation as Affirmative Recognition……………………………………. 44 A Time for Cultural Recognition 54 Inclusion and the Culturalization of Indigeneity 62 Colonial Recognition Politics 74 Recognition as Reconciliation 79 Affirmative Recognition Politics and Inuit (He)Art 85 Disciplined by Arctic Sovereignty 95 Chapter Two Our Art, Our Land: Theorizing the Interplay between Ethnography and Aestheticization in the WAG’s Inuit Exhibition Catalogues………………………........101 The Contextualist Protocol in Inuit Art Appreciation 110 Art as a Bridge 116 Seeking the Ethnographic in the Aesthetic 124 Aestheticization as Individualization 127 Aestheticization and Coevality 132 Art as Universal Language 138 The Ethnographic / Exotic and the Universal / Canadian 143 Depoliticization through Culturalization 149 Aesthetic and Psychosocial Dimensions of Settler Belonging 153 Conclusion 164 Chapter Three Art is the New Fur……………………………………………………………………….. 166 Narrativizing the Transition to Artmaking 169 Art Substitutes 184 Art Preserves 193 The Arctic Co-op Movement 202 Storying Nunavut as Aesthetic Autonomy 213 Conclusion The Radical Uncertainty of Dependency……………………………………………….. 231 On Necessary Regrets 240 vi ABBREVIATIONS AANDC Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada ACL Arctic Co-operatives Limited BMC Bureau of Management Consultants CCA Canada Council for the Arts CMA Canadian Museums Association FCNA Fédération des cooperatives du Nouveau Québec HBC Hudson’s Bay Company IAC Inuit Art Centre IAND Indian Affairs and Northern Development ICC Inuit Circumpolar Conference IFA Inuvialut Final Agreement ITK Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (formerly Inuit Tapirisat of Canada) LILCA Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreements NDCFP Northern Dimension of Canada’s Foreign Policy NLCA Nunavut Land Claim Agreement NISA Nunavik Inuit Settlement Area NWT Northwest Territories (formerly North-West Territories) QTC Qikiqtani Truth Commission RCAP Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples TFMFP Task Force on Museums and First Peoples TEK Traditional Ecological Knowledge TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea UNDRIP United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples WAG Winnipeg Art Gallery vii Ph.D. Thesis – M. Boyce – McMaster University – English & Cultural Studies INTRODUCTION (An) Effective Occupation: Inuit Art Put to Work for Canadian Arctic Sovereignty In the summer of 2017, I visited Winnipeg to begin my archival research for this dissertation. The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) had recently broken ground on its newest endeavour: the Inuit Art Centre (IAC), which is meant to display the gallery’s enormous collection of Inuit artworks, and which will also serve as a sort of community hub for visitors to learn about Inuit, and sometimes even play at being artists themselves, under the tutelage of Inuit artists-in-residence.1 The IAC building, like the WAG, will model the North, with glassy, ice-like enclosures and rounded, undulating sides in the style of rolling Arctic terrain. Michael Maltzan, the architect for the IAC, describes the centre as 1 Best practices dictate using the term “Inuit” rather than “the Inuit” in most cases. Technically speaking, the latter is redundant, as “Inuit,” an Inuktitut word, translates to “the people” in English. I use the former, except in cases when the text I am citing uses the latter.