本机的真理

Standing inside the Field Museum of Natural History’s recently revamped exhibit on Native American culture, 87年的汤姆·斯克沃斯基承认了一个残酷的现实.

不仅菲尔德的本土北美馆, 正如之前所知, erroneously frame Native American life as a relic of the past — offending Indigenous communities visiting the permanent exhibit — it caused irreversible damage to some of the 1,展出了500件部落物品. Skwerski, 谁负责监督著名的芝加哥博物馆耗资800万美元的项目, explains on a recent tour of the new space that many of the pieces didn’t receive proper care and deteriorated from decades of exposure to fluorescent lights.

Tom Skwerski’87 oversaw the $8 million revamp that led to the Field's 本机的真理 exhibit, 称其为“我参与过的最有价值的项目之一”.”
来源:Lloyd DeGrane“这在很多层面上都存在问题, 收藏和保护只是其中一个主要部分,斯克沃斯基说, 从2007年起就在菲尔德工作的展览总监.

现在是菲尔德重新设计的展览, 名为《菠菜白菜吧》, 十大菠菜台子,，旨在澄清事实. Skwerski和另外两名在Field的贝洛伊特校友在更新6方面发挥了至关重要的作用,000平方英尺的展览, which seeks to offer a contemporary and 更多的 accurate picture of Native Americans as resilient and innovative. 艾米丽斯塔克的14, 催收经理助理, 你是雇来帮忙装修的新员工之一吗. 还有96年的杰米·凯利, 人类学收藏主管, 协助一些最早的筹款和头脑风暴工作.

但是重新设计的道路并不总是一帆风顺的. 在将近五年的过程中, 现场工作人员努力解决有关博物馆道德的棘手问题, 文化的代表, 以及他们自己的同谋. 让新展览生动起来, Field needed to reestablish trust and include Native American communities in the process.

为此目的, Field consulted on the new exhibit with 更多的 than 130 Native American stakeholders representing 更多的 than 105 tribes. It also created an advisory panel of 11 Native American 学者 and museum professionals, 谁每季度召开一次会议提供意见, 并委托当地艺术家创作了大约50件新作品, 谁的贡献得到了报酬, Skwerski说. “原住民真相”展览于2022年5月20日首次亮相.

“One of the biggest challenges we had to face from the very beginning was coming to grips with the fact that the Field Museum has not been a welcoming place for Native people,斯克沃斯基说. “那只是历史. 我们必须改变这一点.”

而菲尔德通常会花大约三年的时间来规划一个新的展览, museum budgeted 更多的 time for this project to ensure it could incorporate feedback from Native communities, Skwerski说.

在菲尔德博物馆, 艾米丽斯塔克的14 and Jamie 凯利’96 examine components of the “Keeper of the Lightning Bolts,Max Early的当代陶瓷作品(拉古纳普韦布洛), 西尔维斯特Hustito, 和诺文·约翰逊.
来源:Lloyd DeGrane

校友们还希望这标志着一个合作的新时代. 斯塔克, 谁现在会定期帮助部落在战场上获取祖先的物品, said that process benefits museums trying to better understand and preserve their collections along with the communities that feel connected to them.

“早在19世纪和20世纪, 博物馆自认为是文化知识的专家, 但我们现在知道，我们扮演的是管家的角色，而不是专家,斯塔克说. “与社区知识保持者一起工作是一种真正的荣幸, 长老, 学者, 艺术家是专家.”

一个共同策划的空间

When the Field officially announced the redesign project in 2018, it had its work cut out.

The Native North America Hall hadn’t gotten a substantive update since it was erected in the 1950s. 展出的许多物品都曾在1893年的哥伦比亚世界博览会上展出过, 是在芝加哥举行的吗, 后来，它们成为了博物馆的一些创始收藏品. It was a time when anthropologists believed that by removing Native American artifacts from their original contexts, 包括人类遗骸和随葬品, 他们在帮助保护一种濒临灭绝的文化.

对过时展览的担忧, 由领域内外的人表达, 多年来一直在增长. Critics of the hall noted that mannequins used throughout the space were faceless and stuffed with newspaper, 使他们想要描绘的土著人失去人性, 而且有些信息是不准确的. 大约1个,500件物品，比如鹿皮鞋, 手工制作的霍皮克钦纳娃娃, 传统服装挤在玻璃陈列柜里, 没有足够的篇幅来对这些项目进行详尽的解释.

整修展览的正式工作始于2014年, 凯利说, 谁曾在一个内部工作小组中帮助构思新空间.

凯利说:“在项目获得批准之前，我的角色更加密集. “我们只是把想法扔在墙上，集思广益，想出概念.”

During these sessions, Field focused on repairing relations with Native American communities. 这一使命的关键是建立美洲原住民咨询委员会, 由11名土著居民组成. 委员会成员, 谁因参与而获得酬金, guided the Field on everything from using Indigenous language to selecting themes featured in the exhibit’s displays.

凯利说，工作组还提出了创建旋转画廊的想法, 允许一些项目休息，然后展示其他项目. “We definitely wanted this to be a co-curated space where people are telling their stories,凯利说。. “我们的藏品是如此之多，在这么小的空间里有太多的东西要讲.”

随着内省的继续, Field recognized another issue: It had no Native people working in an exhibit about their own culture. 随着收藏和保护部门雇佣了更多的土著员工，情况发生了变化, 以及视觉艺术家Debra Yepa-Pappan, 谁是韩国人并且是杰梅斯普韦布洛部落的成员, 作为第一位土著社区参与协调员加入该领域. 在整个重新设计过程中, Yepa-Pappan helped keep Chicago’s Native American community connected with the process and liaised with dozens of Native collaborators.

对耶帕帕来说，这项工作是私人的. She grew up in Chicago and remembers visiting the Native Hall with her father during summer vacation, each time thinking the exhibit seemed dingy compared to others housed in the cultural landmark. 最生动的, 耶帕帕记得父亲指着一个东西, 普韦布洛人在仪式上穿的方格呢裙, 这个标签不准确. 基于设计, 他可以判断出它来自杰梅斯普韦布洛人，而不是科奇蒂人, 正如显示屏所说.

“That resonated with me and stuck with me all throughout my entire life,” Yepa-Pappan says. “As I had my daughter, and as she was growing up, I really tried to avoid the Field Museum.”

增强本土声音的力量

The Field's new exhibit seeks to empower Native voices and bring context to the collection, 从1开始筛选在给定时间显示的内容,500项到400项左右.
来源:Lloyd DeGrane

Today’s exhibit is starkly different from the one Yepa-Pappan encountered as a young girl.

新的体验甚至在游客进入之前就开始了. Big, 黑色的, 展览入口处有几个粗字母，上面写着“你在原住民的土地上”, 定下基调. 它的设计与本土艺术家乔伊·蒙托亚(Joey Montoya)创立的服装系列相同, 一位与菲尔德合作的利潘·阿帕奇.

这句话是一个强有力的提醒, Skwerski说, 它反映了该领域与土著社区密切合作的承诺. Field还在为重建采购的材料中寻求尊重这种方法, including using wood from the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin f或者是 floors and benches.

而不是关注展示对象的数量, 新大厅旨在增强原住民的声音. 新展览的430件展品, 远远少于1,500先前显示, 可以被彻底探索. 通过数字触摸屏上的生动视频, Native people act as guides to convey stories about the objects and share their experiences. 几乎所有的展品都是从土著人的角度来讲述的. 现在, 轮流展出的展厅涉及食品主权等主题, 土地保护, 作为一种表现形式的艺术, 以及传统的延续.

来源:Lloyd DeGrane

参观者很少会听到菲尔德的声音, 除了博物馆要处理自己遗留下来的问题. That display acknowledges how the museum harmed Native American communities and was reluctant to repatriate some objects that Tribes had requested back, 尽管联邦法律要求这么做.

“自建国以来，我们发生了很大变化,显示屏上写着, “但我们需要做出更多的改变.在这一部分中, 博物馆指出，他们竞相收集人类遗骸, 尤其是土著人的头骨, helping give rise to claims in the eugenics movements that Indigenous people were inferior. 另一节展示了Field是如何尝试改革的, 博物馆将116件随葬品归还给了圣保罗市. 奇佩瓦印第安人的玛丽部落，今天居住在密歇根州.

斯塔克 and Skwerski say sensitive issues regarding repatriations did arise during the redesign and were handled by a different museum department to protect the privacy of those involved.

“The fact that this is such a major exhibition project called 更多的 attention to the Field Museum and its collections and that’s getting the word out about items that we have here,斯塔克说.

贝洛伊特的教训

尽管Skwerski, 斯塔克, 凯利为“本土真相”展览的不同方面做出了贡献,y all drew on foundational experiences at 贝洛伊特 to prepare them f或者是 massive undertaking.

伯洛伊特大学有两个博物馆，学生可以在那里接受实践培训 跨学科博物馆研究项目 这为学生在顶尖的国家机构中脱颖而出做好了准备. 除了勤工俭学和在伯洛伊特大学做志愿者的机会 洛根人类学博物馆 或者是 莱特艺术博物馆在美国，学生必须完成校外实习.

斯塔克引用了她在洛根酒店的经历, 她在那里做研究，学习如何打理精美的收藏品, 作为她创作《菠菜白菜吧》的训练基地.

“这种学习和教学的态度，并试图让有抱负的专业人士参与进来, 甚至从他们大学生涯的开始, 在这种合作人类学中给了我一个坚实的方向,她说。.

在贝洛伊特大学，斯塔克和斯克沃斯基的专业是 人类学 辅修博物馆研究. 凯利 double majored in art history and 人类学 and graduated with a minor in museum studies.

Nicolette Blum Meister, 博物馆研究项目主席兼洛根主任, said the Field is just one of the many major cultural institutions where 贝洛伊特 graduates are making a difference. 其他包括史密森学会, 圣路易斯艺术博物馆, 普林斯顿大学艺术博物馆, 以及威斯康辛州的宜人草原历史博物馆, 举几个例子.

“在本科阶段开设博物馆研究课程是很有特色的, 但正是我们收藏丰富的校园让我们在同行中脱颖而出,梅斯特说.

每年有8到15名学生选修博物馆研究辅修课程. 最重要的是外部实习, 学生通过学习收藏管理课程来完成学位要求, 参加展览设计和艺术品化学的选修课, 完成一个顶点项目.

斯克沃斯基和凯利也称赞伯洛伊特为他们成为该领域的领导者做好了准备. 创造本土真理, 他们利用了批判性思维等技能, 文化敏感性, 以及展览设计——这些都是他们在伯洛伊特接受教育的基础.

“This is probably one of the most rewarding projects that I’ve worked on,斯克沃斯基说. “It just really changed my view of how you can make an exhibit and who your audience is and who the voice should be.”

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