Menu
Collection Count + Care seeks relationships within and conversations across the collection. What stories does the collection tell? / Prise en compte, prise à cœur cherche à tisser des liens et des dialogues entre les œuvres de la collection. Quelles histoires la collection raconte-t-elle?
SPEAKERS / PRÉSENTATRICE
Qanita Lilla, Associate Curator, Arts of Afric / conservatrice associée, arts africains and / et Suzanne van de Meerendonk, Bader Curator of European Art
Works by Makers Once Known / Œuvres d’artisans jadis connus :
Mask / Masque, Liberia / Libéria, unknown date / date inconnue, wood, fibre, cloth and string / bois, fibres, tissu et ficelle. Gift of Justin and Elisabeth Lang, 1984 / Don de Justin et Elisabeth Lang, 1984
Locket / Médaillon, Inscribed / Inscription M.M. June 21st 1885, brass, enamel, glass and hair / laiton, émail, verre et cheveux. Gift of Elizabeth and Alastair Walker, 1996 / Don d’Elizabeth et Alastair Walker, 1996
Portrait / Portrait, unknown date / date inconnue, oil on ivory, with metal, glass and hair / huile sur ivoire, avec métal, verre et cheveux. Gift of Elizabeth and Alastair Walker, 1996 / Don d’Elizabeth et Alastair Walker, 1996
Miniature Portrait / Portrait miniature, around 1580 / vers 1580, oil on copper / huile sur cuivre. Gift of Dr and Mrs Alfred Bader, 1969 / Don de Dr et Mme Alfred Bader, 1969
https://agnes.queensu.ca/exhibition/c…Collection Count + Care seeks relationships within and conversations across the collection. What stories does the collection tell? / Prise en compte, prise à cœur cherche à tisser des liens et des dialogues entre les œuvres de la collection. Quelles histoires la collection raconte-t-elle? …
Use CTRL+F to find key words if it is a longer transcript.
0:00
>> These used to be really lively
objects, so it’s strange to think
0:03
of them now sitting in our vaults.
0:10
>> We’ve brought these objects
together in a Victorian hatbox.
0:14
And they recall a number of things.
0:16
The journeys they took to
Agnes, their intimate nature.
0:19
So each one was actually carried close to the
wearer’s heart and also their changing roles.
0:25
But each of these objects do
carry very different meanings.
0:28
>> Like the small wooden Dan mask from
Liberia was sometimes called a passport mask.
0:33
And we’re not sure who started using this term,
0:37
because the term “passport” was an imperial
invention used to control the borders of Africa.
0:43
That makes us realize that the term
is linked to home and to belonging,
0:50
but it also shows how entangled
our knowledge about Africa is
0:53
with colonial ideas of mastery and control.
0:57
>> Placing the mask alongside these also
very personal objects from the global north,
1:02
it really opens up different kinds of
conversation about kinship and the way
1:07
in which we can perceive or understand lived
presences as they exist in our collections.
1:12
For instance, the hair work on the miniature
[inaudible] expresses this immortal love
1:19
for a person that was once known.
1:21
And the likeness of that person, which we then
see on the other side, is painted on ivory.
1:27
Ivory as a material similarly sits
between the living and the un-living,
1:33
but it also links immediately to
colonial processes of extraction.
1:38
>> We brought these objects all together because
we wanted to show how they can forge new bonds
1:44
of kinship and that people who love Agnes
wanted to share these objects with us.
1:50
>> So now these are brought
together in a spirit of sharing.
1:53
>> Yes.
No results found