Honouring Traditions: Reframing Native Art

We had our first real team meeting the other day – four curators (Quyen, Fred, Beth and Gerry) and an intern (Elise) sitting around the table trying to bring our diverse ideas and views together. We are four very different voices from different backgrounds. In fact, I think we are often thinking and feeling similar things, but we just state it in different ways.

What held us together was a healthy dose of laughter. As Fred said – humour in native societies has always balanced the basic instinct for survival. In our case, it helped us bond – it helped us get over our initial nerves – it helped us come up with some great ideas!  It also confirmed that what we are trying to do with this exhibit is fresh and fun. As we come up with our official storyline, I hope we can keep it that way.