Document generated on 09/28/2021 4:40 a.m. RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne Canadian Art Review Inuit Art in Canadian and Indigenous Art: From Time Immemorial to 1967, National Gallery of Canada, Permanent exhibition, Ottawa Christina Williamson Continuities Between Eras: Indigenous Art Histories Continuité entre les époques : histoires des arts autochtones Volume 42, Number 2, 2017 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1042954ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1042954ar See table of contents Publisher(s) UAAC-AAUC (University Art Association of Canada | Association d'art des universités du Canada) ISSN 0315-9906 (print) 1918-4778 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this review Williamson, C. (2017). Review of [Inuit Art in Canadian and Indigenous Art: From Time Immemorial to 1967, National Gallery of Canada, Permanent exhibition, Ottawa]. RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review, 42(2), 126–128. https://doi.org/10.7202/1042954ar Tous droits réservés © UAAC-AAUC (University Art Association of Canada | This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit Association d'art des universités du Canada), 2017 (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ ⇢ The Fifh World Mendel Art Gallery/Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery of living, and that non-Indigenous Gallery of Canada (ngc) has rehung the Confederacy and the right to bear peoples need to reconsider their rela- the Canadian Galleries, now known arms underscore American nation- tionship with the earth. Recalling as the Canadian and Indigenous Gal- alism’s roots in the oppression of the Hopi prophecy of “an impend- leries, as part of a show of support for others through setler property rights ing choice between destruction and the reconciliation movement sparked and the displacement and atempted conflict”⁹— or, ostensibly, between by the Truth and Reconciliation Com- genocide of Indigenous peoples, as life and death —The Fifh World shows mission (trc). ngc touts the new well as entrenched systems of white us that Indigenous peoples made a permanent exhibitions — Canadian and power and militarism. Galanin’s art- choice long ago to respect the earth Indigenous Art : From Time Immemorial to work also calls to mind historical col- and we should follow them. ¶ 1967, which encompasses art made in onial massacres, such as Wounded Canada from 5,000 years ago to today, Knee, as well as the ongoing, geno- Ellyn Walker is a PhD Candidate in Cultural and Canadian and Indigenous Art : 1968 to Studies at Queen’s University cidal violence carried out by police, — [email protected] Present — as a significant shif for the military, and white supremacists (aka institution. “white nationalists”) against Indigen- 1. Jarret Martineau and Eric Ritskes, “Fugi- First Nations and Metis art were tive Indigeneity : Reclaiming the Terrain of ous and other marginalized peoples. Decolonial Struggle Through Indigenous Art,” introduced into the Canadian Galler- By emphasizing what is a stake in the Decolonization : Indigeneity, Education & Society 16, 3 ies in 2003 as part of the permanent “American dream”— symbolized by the (2014) : 1-12. exhibition Art of this Land, but Inuit 2. Laura Shackelford, “Counter-Networks nation’s flag — Galanin’s artwork asks in a Network Society : Leslie Marmon Silko’s Al- works remained in ngc’s basement viewers to reconsider the complex- manac of the Dead,” Postmodern Culture Journal in the Prints and Drawings Gallery, ities of nation-building in light of 16, 3 (May 2006) htp ://pmc.iath.virginia.edu/ where the curator of Inuit art was also past and present atrocities, but also issue.506/16.3shackelford.html. assigned. Historically, ngc resisted 3. Wanda Nanibush, curatorial statement, to contemplate how our understand- The Fifth World (Kitchener-Waterloo, on : Kitchen- collecting Indigenous art, because it ings of history can help us to imagine er-Waterloo Art Gallery, 2016). considered it craf and therefore the more just ways of living together on 4. Wanda Nanibush, “20 Years of Tribe : Mile- purview of the National Museum of stones and Future Horizons,” interview by Bryne contested territories. McLaughlin, Canadian Art, May 28, 2015, htps :// Man (now the Canadian Museum of Other Indigenous artists featured canadianart.ca/features/20-years-of-tribe-mile- History). In the 1980s, however, ngc in the exhibition include Sonny Assu stones-and-future-horizons. began to systematically collect Inuit 5. Meryl McMaster, artist statement, Murmur, (Ligwilda’xw territory), Laakkuluk 2014, htp ://merylmcmaster.com. works of art, thanks to the active lob- Williamson Bathory (Iqaluit), Scot 6. Ellyn Walker, “Representing the Self bying of the Canadian Eskimo Art Benesiinaabandan (Montreal), Jordan through Ancestry : Meryl McMaster’s Ancestral Council (ceac).¹ Portraits,” Reconstruction : Studies in Contemporary Cul- Bennet (Stephenville Crossing), ture 15, 1 (2015) : 2. For Canadians and visitors alike, Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Anchorage), 7. McMaster, artist statement. ngc plays a role in defining the offi- Skeena Reece (Vancouver Island) and 8. The Kino-nda-niimi Collective, ed., The cially embraced national story of Winter We Danced : Voices from the Past, the Future, and Travis Shilling (Rama First Nation). the Idle No More Movement (Winnipeg : Arp Books, Canada. Bringing Inuit art out of Together their work reflects the ways 2014), 21. the basement thus represents a step in which “Indigenous peoples have 9. Nanibush, curatorial statement. towards challenging setler notions been protecting homelands ; main- taining and revitalizing languages, traditions, and cultures ; and atempt- Inuit Art in Canadian and Indigenous ing to engage Canadians in a fair and Art : From Time Immemorial to 1967 just manner for hundreds of years.”⁸ National Gallery of Canada Despite these efforts, our current Permanent exhibition, Otawa situation reflects an urgent need to rethink our relationship with the land, its gifs, and each other. We are at an important crossroads akin to the Fifh World, where the very life sources in which we all share — Indigenous and Christina Williamson non-Indigenous alike — continue to Installation shot, Canadian and Indigenous Art : be degraded, exploited, contaminat- As part of the Canada 150 celebra- From Time Immemorial to 1967, 2017, National Gallery of Canada. Photo : Christina Williamson. ed, and capitalized upon. The works in tions taking place across the country, The Fifh World remind us that Indigen- several national museums in Otawa ous peoples have always demonstrat- have overhauled their permanent of what constitutes art within this ed thoughtful and sustainable ways exhibitions. For its part, the National narrative. Yet, as Steven Lof notes, 126 Reviews | Recensions “Although there is a growing recogni- large formline panel that is painted arranged in threes echo the aesthet- tion of Indigenous artistic practices over or exposed to varying degrees, ic of the modernist paintings, par- within Canadian museums […] this thus bringing the colonial history of ticularly those of Claude Tousignant. inclusion continues to be contingent Canada into sharp relief. Together, This section was especially intrigu- upon a relationship with the ultim- the works speak to each other across ing, because it relates to a time-per- ately unshaken art-historical hegem- time and national difference, and the iod — the 1960s — when Inuit and non- ony.”² Nearly thirty years earlier, Lee- room offers a clear message about Inuit modernists were frequently dis- Ann Martin similarly described this what Indigenous art in Canada was, is, played and collected together.⁹ Nods process as “sof-inclusion,” whereby and can be. to some unsuccessful federal art pro- setler museums and galleries merely The presence of Inuit art is exten- grammes are included, such as Seated incorporate Indigenous artworks into sive in the second half of the exhib- Man and Woman (1960s), a Rankin Inlet mainstream exhibitions.³ The result ition, although there are some nota- ceramic by Eli Tikeayak, and a stone of sof-inclusion is a “setler move ble gaps. For example, the works totem pole from Inukjuak.¹⁰ to innocence” in which setlers feel of marginalized Inuit artists from The Inuit prints in a nearby side gratified by the work they have done Nunatsiavut are not as well repre- gallery provide a brief overview of while failing to dismantle or critically sented as those from Nunavut, Nuna- Inuit print and drawing history, and consider the colonial structures that vik, and Inuvialuit ; this is largely include the monumental works of perpetuate and maintain the oppres- due to the historic neglect of Nuna- Parr, the bold colour-work of Jessie sion of Indigenous peoples.⁴ To get tisavummiut artists by both ceac Oonark, and the historically precise beyond this, ngc must not mere- and ngc.⁶ Traditional Indigenous work of Helen Kalvak, among others. ly absorb Inuit art into the existing women’s work, such as beading, sew- Moreover, the work of Peter Pitseolak national story, but create a dialogue ing, and quillwork, is represented, represents the beginnings of the Inuit between Inuit and non-Inuit works. although ngc’s spoty collecting photography tradition, one that con- In this regard, From Time Immemorial to history means that much of this is tinues today. Though issues around 1967 is, at times, a success, as it occa- necessarily on loan from other col- conservation may explain why these sionally creates a vibrant dialogue lections. The mounting of the one two-dimensional works were separ- between Inuit and other works. At Inuit atigi (parka) — a replica of shaman ated from those in the main gallery, it other times, it isolates Inuit art, even Qingailisaq’s atigi — fails to acknow- nonetheless means that they say litle when it is displayed in the middle of ledge the historical and cultural sig- in relation to other artistic traditions.