This Song is a Museum Item Number: 2932/3 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Round drum with cream coloured hide stretched over a wooden frame and secured with thick hide ties at the back which are looped through a hide circle. The front of the drum is decorated with black ink around the edges with four roughly ovular black ink shapes at the centre. At the centre of the back, in the circle, the hide ties are braided into a cross shape and a black string is attached for hanging.
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
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
- 2932/0003