Objects of resistance

Anonymity was one of the insults inherent to the constitution of ethnographic collections in colonial times. For the creators and owners of cultural artefacts were seldom named once these had become «museified» things, with an inventory number as their ultimate identity. However, museums like the MEG are also the guardians of canvases, drawings and sculptures signed and put on the market by Indigenous artists during the same colonial period.

These works’ context of creation and their journey to the museum often remain undocumented. They themselves nonetheless tell us a story in images specific to the Indigenous artists’ interpretation of their socio-cultural environment at the time threatened by or under European occupation. They impose on whoever observes them a political, identity and memorial message so strong that by symbolizing the struggle against imperialism they are acts of resistance.

Floriane Morin/MEG