The Collection

The Collection proposes we (re)discover museumified objects through the prism of their anchorage in the colonial history of the Ethnography Museum of Geneva. They have imposed themselves in this path. The narrative framework is woven around them, through the accounts, clues or silences of their journeys to the museum and the attributions to which they were subjected, as well as the multiple identities they assumed according to whoever interacted with them. These objects’ fragmentary biographies are mixed with a presentation of the colonial context specific to Geneva and with certain episodes of the history of European imperialisms. The words of historians, geographers and anthropologists specializing in the colonial era, the gestures and works of contemporary artists, and the involvement of cultural heirs and heiresses are linked here to the archives which the MEG is sharing in total transparency.