Remaking connections through art(ifacts)

Standing at one square metre each, a set of illustrations depicting Coast Salish communities through the different seasons, concepts based on interpretations by colonial archaeologists, will soon undergo a transformation as part of a research project led by Kristen Barnett at the University of British Columbia . A group of Indigenous artists will reinvent them through art, maybe using the images for collage work, or as canvases to paint over with pigments created from previously removed soil samples, as an option.

“It’s like the ultimate land back, without just dumping a bag of soil into the ground,” says Barnett, an Unangax̂ interdisciplinary academic from Alaska, and the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Archaeology .

This artistic remaking of previously removed archaeological samples will soon happen on a larger scale at UBC’s new Indigenous archaeology Lab for Indigenous Futures (IaLIF), set to open in early 2025. The lab will bring together Indigenous scholars, artists and community members to study archaeological collections through an Indigenous lens, and to remake relations to “artifacts” or belongings through art and performance.

The IaLIF will house pottery wheels, looms, easels and other art supplies. There will also be a sound booth, video and audio equipment, virtual and augmented reality technology, and other CFI-funded gear to help make research meaningful to future generations. This “remaking of meaning” is one of the goals of Indigenous archaeology which aims to redress some of the harm of Western archaeology, a discipline that was established in the late 19th century and often conducted at the expense of Indigenous cultures.

Barnett says creating art from items previously taken by archaeologists, from plant remains to beads, can help Indigenous people, Nations and communities reconnect with them. It goes beyond the typical rematriation of objects, offering an option to repair or remake relations and meanings. This approach not only returns belongings to their homes but allows for a restorative practice that provides a way to reconnect with the objects.

Art-based rekindling as a way forward

Archaeologists have historically excavated and taken items from Indigenous lands for the sake of “research,” often severing relationships between the items and local communities. But, there have been calls for individual collectors and colonial institutions to return their stolen goods in recent years, and a growing movement of Indigenous-led archaeology in North America.

While working with Indigenous students in Alaska a few years ago, Barnett says she witnessed the harm and tension that comes when artifacts are returned to communities that no longer feel a connection to them. Archaeologists can celebrate the rematriation/repatriation of belongings as a “job well done” but can miss out on the lasting impacts of breaking relations, which both lacks consideration and leaves no avenue to repair that relationship.

“It could act as a reminder that someone came and took these things, making new meanings of belongings so that they become important to someone who didn’t even know you — the things become more important than the people,” says Barnett.

She adds that some people may not want to engage with returned items at all, but the option should be there, and an art-based rekindling is one way forward.

This rebuilding of meaning can also be done without tangible artifacts. Barnett is currently working with a Yupik community in Alaska to create an animated film based on archaeological reconstructions of an old village site, to pass the stories on to youth in the Yupik language.

This type of work will continue in the lab’s digital storytelling suite, equipped to tell stories through video, audio and virtual reality.

Flora and fauna as archaeological materials

In Western archaeology, many materials like fish bones, seeds and rocks used for cooking, aren’t considered for return at all, Barnett says, or they might have been labelled or stored in a way that would not tend to them as carefully as what would typically be classified as artifacts or cultural objects.

“In this Western framework those are separate from artifacts, but within an Indigenous framework those are all part of our relations,” says Barnett, adding that incorporating them into contemporary art, sculpture, performance or song allows them to co-exist in relation again.

These items will also be studied in the new lab, including some items in UBC’s collections that will be studied as cultural objects for the first time, in partnership with descendant communities. A database will be created that centres Indigenous languages and meanings along with Western labels like size and material.

Indigenous Futurity and the way forward

Indigenous Futurity, a creative movement where Indigenous writers and artists imagine life without colonial oversight, is central to the IaLIF. For the lab, futurity includes the remaking of colonial narratives and reclaiming collections so Indigenous Peoples’ heritages are no longer considered relics of a past, says Barnett.

The future of Indigenous archaeology also relies on getting youth involved, says Sam Walker, who is a settler and an anthropological archaeologist who works with youth in Amittuq, Nunavut. Walker runs archaeology camps and finds creative ways to pique students’ interest.

“I’ve done a lot of 3D printing artifacts so students can handle and see replicas of artifacts, without the concerns of handling something that’s very delicate,” says Walker, who is a faculty member at UBC.

Walker says the new lab will allow for an interesting combination of academic research, community-based work and unique ways to engage youth with technology.

“It’s so important to meet youth at least halfway and to do things in a way that is engaging for them and feels intuitive for them to participate.”

Walker says the new lab will focus on the values, relationships and futures of Indigenous people, instead of just having more conversations about decolonizing research methods in archaeology.

“That all goes so far beyond what we see in anti-colonial research and it’s just such an excellent example of where the discipline needs to be heading.”

The research project featured in this story also benefits from funding from the Canada Research Chairs Program , UBC Faculty of Arts and the U.S.’s National Science Foundation .

Mélanie Ritchot is a Métis journalist based on Vancouver Island, whose writing practice focuses on Indigenous storytelling and the arts.