A Box of Treasures

Taapwaywin: Talking about what we know and what we believe

In 2015 carvers Gwaai and Jaalen Edenshaw travelled all the way to Oxford to carve a replica of a masterpiece of Haida art: a remarkable bentwood box that had been held in the Pitt Rivers Museum collection for over 130 years.

But why were Jaalen and Gwaai recreating the box in the first place? Why was having the original bentwood box return to Haida Gwaii not an option? And how did the box end up all the way in England?

In this episode, Ry Moran talks with Gwaai and Jaalen Edenshaw, Marenka Thompson-Odlum, Heather Igloliorte, and Nika Collison about the way museums can at once obscure history or be powerful sites of truth-telling.

Visit www.taapwaywin.ca for transcripts and more information.

Gwaai Edenshaw: http://www.gwaai.com/

Jaalen Edenshaw: http://jaalen.net/

Haida Gwaai Museum SAAHLINDA NAAY: https://haidagwaiimuseum.ca/

More information Marenka Thompson-Odlum’s Labelling Matters Project: https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/labelling-matters

Heather Igloliorte: https://www.concordia.ca/finearts/art-history/faculty.html?fpid=heather-igloliorte

More information and Links:

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action on Museums and Archives:

TRC Calls to Action: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf

UNDRIP: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf

The Principles of Reconciliation: https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/trc/IR4-6-2015-eng.pdf

United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals: https://sdgs.un.org/goals