During a walkthrough of the exhibit this week with The Denver Post, Chrisjohn and DMNS anthropology curator Chris Patrello singled out items that are representative of its problems, things that the majority of visitors to the museum wouldn’t have known.
A pair of room-sized dioramas depicting Plains Indigenous people as romanticized stereotypes are painfully frozen in the past, Chrisjohn said. “We’re not actually people, we’re belongings behind glass who can’t step out into the real, modern world. … And it’s not that some of this isn’t beautiful. It’s that I want people to learn about me and my culture outside of these spaces, not just as history. These terms were forced upon us.
Re-creations of full-sized Hopi dwellings, which seemed “immersive and progressive” in 1978, Patrello said, now look like cheap theme park exhibits, with items crammed against walls behind fake windows and presented as undifferentiated, brightly lit tchotchkes. “What little information there is isn’t accessible to the visitor. It’s got this overstuffed, treasure-box vibe.”
Patrello and others at the museum will work with a wide swath of Indigenous consultants and public input to decide what happens next. But what that is will all depend on pending future meetings about the most respectful ways to make up for decades of misrepresentation. “Maybe the best way is to sprinkle items through the museum,” he said. “Or maybe it’s to remove the exhibit altogether.”
Entertainment Entertainment Latest News, Entertainment Entertainment Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: comingsoonnet - 🏆 578. / 51 Read more »