This Song is a Museum: The ndn artist's paintbrush Item Number: 2932/6 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Wooden drumstick with a heavily beaded handle, with a white fur tip. The shaft is decorated with tightly packed rows of small clear plastic beads, with the base of the handle covered in rawhide, wrapped with sinew. The top half of the fur tip has been darkened with black ink. There is a circular metal loop screwed into the end of the handle.
History Of Use
This Song is a Museum was created for an exhibition called "Peter Morin's Museum" in 2011. Tahltan artist Peter Morin invited Coast Salish singer Hwieumten, Fred Roland to make a visual record of his song. Using a drumstick dipped in paint, Hwieumten inscribed his gestures on five elk-skin drums, creating patterns of dark splatters.
Narrative
"This song is hundreds of years old. This song is a museum." In 2011, Tahltan artist Peter Morin invited Coast Salish singer Hwieumten (Fred Roland) to make a visual record of his song. By using a drumstick dipped in black paint, Hwieumten inscribed each of these five elk-skin drums with the act—and therefore the memory—of singing. Peter Morin explains, "The museum has a tendency to lose the singing. The voice connected to the objects becomes hard to reach. I wanted to figure out an Indigenous way to document the song using Indigenous materials. The drums are a record of his practice of Indigenous knowledge. The record of the practice relates to the environment. And the record will always be different." Named "This Song is a Museum" this work extends the idea of “museum” to encompass other ways that knowledge is carried through time and space. Peter Morin sees the drums and their songs as fluid structures that, like museums, are strong enough to carry ideas. He reminds us that the Indigenous objects we see at MOA are all manifestations of cultural knowledge tied to living people, land, and cultures.
Item History
- Made by Peter Morin (Maker) and Fred Roland (Technician) in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada during 2011
- Owned by Peter Morin before November 28, 2011
- Received from Peter Morin (Donor) on November 28, 2011
What
- Name
- This Song is a Museum: The ndn artist's paintbrush
- Identification Number
- 2932/6
- Type of Item
- drumstick
- Material
- diamond willow wood, plastic, rabbit skin, rawhide skin, sinew, ink, fibre and metal
- Overall
- height 47.5 cm, width 6.0 cm, depth 5.0 cm
Who
- Culture
- Tahltan
- Creator
- Peter Morin (Maker) and Fred Roland (Technician)
- Previous Owner
- Peter Morin
- Received from
- Peter Morin (Donor)
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
When
- Creation Date
- during 2011
- Ownership Date
- before November 28, 2011
- Acquisition Date
- on November 28, 2011
Other
- Condition
- excellent
- Current Location
- Case 109
- Accession Number
- 2932/0006