[can-events] The Aboriginal Presence in the new Portrait Gallery of Canada

The Museums and Collections Program and the 
Public Culture Program, Research School of the 
Humanities (Australian National University) and 
the National Museum of Australia present the 2007 
Collections seminar series, Museums and 
Collections in Public Culture. The second seminar is:

FROM HARMONY TO ANTIPHONY: THE ABORIGINAL 
PRESENCE IN THE THE NEW PORTRAIT GALLERY OF CANADA
 >> Ruth Phillips, Canada Research Chair and 
Professor of Art History at Carleton University, Ottawa
 > Session to be chaired by Andrew Sayers, 
Director, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
 > Session to be introduced by Howard Morphy, 
Director of the Research School of Humanities, ANU.

Abstract:
The problematic history of Aboriginal 
representation has been at the heart of the 
debates that have changed Canadian museology 
during the past two decades.  This talk will 
discuss the ways in which these debates and 
practices inform my curatorial approach to the 
representation of Aboriginal peoples in the 
Portrait Gallery of Canada, a new national museum 
currently in development. It argues that where 
the modernist narrative of Canadian history 
positioned Aboriginal people as forerunners and 
contributors to settler society, a postcolonial 
narrative needs to show the historical and 
contemporary co-presence of Aboriginal and 
settler peoples in Canada as marked by tension. 
In musical terms, the hanging of images of 
Aboriginal people and Euro-Canadians in the same 
gallery should produce a sense of antiphony or 
counterpoint rather than harmony. It should also 
question the sufficiency to Aboriginal people of 
the post-Renaissance notion of portraiture, 
challenging an exclusive reliance on visual 
representation and fine art genres by introducing 
other modes of portraying identity, such as story, song, and performance.

Wed 30 May – 12.30-1.45 in the Conference Room, 
Old Canberra House, ANU, Lennox Crossing
Seminars are free and open to the public.
Full seminar series attached

Enquiries to the convenor: 
<mailto:Kylie.Message at anu.edu.au>Kylie.Message at anu.edu.au


l======================

Dr Kylie Message
Convenor, Museums and Collections
Research School of Humanities
The Australian National University
Canberra, ACT, 0200, Aus

Rm. 2.22 Stanner Building (Liversidge st)
Tel. 61-2-612 55429
Fax. 61-2-612 52438
E. kylie.message at anu.edu.au
Web: http://www.anu.edu.au/culture/staff/message_k.php

Museums and Collections Graduate Program Information & Prospectus:
http://rsh.anu.edu.au/museums.php
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