A fish, a goddess, and a friend: how three ancient artefacts created a possibility for anticolonial understanding in the Amos Rex art museum
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
Location:
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Date
2021
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Kuvataidekasvatuksen maisteriohjelma
Language
en
Pages
89
Series
Abstract
This thesis(?) focused on building new relations to objects stolen to Europe from the graves of ancient Egypt; namely a fish-shaped palette, a statue of the Goddess Sekhmet, and a coffin of Henu – the King's only friend. Written in collusion by two unruly nuisances disguised as a singular entity, this text is based on three workshops, which were held in collaboration with the staff behind Amos Rex art museum’s Egypt of Glory – The Last Great Dynasties exhibition (9.10.2020-21.3.2021). The workshops, conducted in January 2021, engaged the community of the museum staff in exploration and discussions about museum exhibitions and collections, objects, sah (mummies), and colonial ourstories as well as personal and institutional accountability through art pedagogical methodology. This text could be a map, a ghost story, a confession, a time traveller’s journal, or a sea creature's witness statement. It applies the imagery and thematic tools of being covered by forest, lost at sea, and haunted by the ghosts generated by colonial logic and fossil-fuelled modernity, to approach the multi-faceted themes of coloniality, decolonisation, and oppressive structures within the museum institutions and the study fields surrounding it. It lingers, leaks, and causes uncomfortable itching. The presented work consists of three parts. The first part maps the backgrounds of the work, the writers, tributes, objects, methodologies, and the context in which the work is situated. It addresses the main themes of the work and the workshops: whiteness, accountability, colonialism, decolonisation, and anticolonial action. The three objects in focus presented the three topics for the workshops: touch, grief, and accountability. The relations between the objects, these topics, the chosen methods of the workshops, and how they connect to possible anticolonial action in the museum are discussed further in the second part of the text. The second part describes the workshops and presents the materials produced in the workshops, as well as their planned timetables, assignments, and final executions. The art educational methods used in the workshops included writing, drawing, working with clay, and facilitating conversations regarding the objects on display. The material was gathered through the writers’ notes taken during the workshops, notes by the workshop participants, and artistically produced materials. The final part analyses the workshops, the work process as a whole, and how and whether the initial thesis questions were answered through the workshops, utilising the ideas of Post Qualitative Inquiry. Writing through and with the collected materials, the final part of the text collects and weaves the experiences, discussions, and other materials into an account that presents one possibility of reality created within the workshops. The writers found that the workshops did further the understanding and activated discussion on decoloniality and anticolonial action within the Amos Rex museum, but the nature of the text relies on understanding and experiences that exceed traditional academic analysis or conclusions.Description
Tekijän nimi on muuttunut
(ennen Roope Laukkanen, vuodesta 2021 Kataja Ekholm)
The author's name has changed (former Roope Laukkanen, since 2021 Kataja Ekholm)
The author's name has changed (former Roope Laukkanen, since 2021 Kataja Ekholm)
Supervisor
Haapalainen, RiikkaThesis advisor
Haapalainen, RiikkaKeywords
ancient Egypt, Amos Rex, museum pedagogy, museums, colonialism, decolonisation, anticolonialism, objects
