"Polyphonia: The Sounds Continue" - Recurating the ISLAC Loaned Collection of Indigenous Percussion Instruments"Polyphonia: The Sounds Continue" - Recurating the ISLAC Loaned Collection of Indigenous Percussion Instruments
May 2023 - Aug 2023May 2023 - Aug 2023

For our class project for CURA 5002, our class was tasked with re-curating several display cases which housed the ISLAC Loaned Collection of Indigenous Percussion Instruments.

Our class consulted with Indigenous knowledge keepers and the original donor to determine what the belongings were and whether it was appropriate to display them. Once we were assured that these were non-sacred objects that were acquired ethically, we researched the various instruments and wrote interpretive plaques for each, which had previously been absent.

In the spirit of speaking to Indigenous futurity, we also commissioned the creation of a new frame drum from local Plains Cree artist Aurora Finkle. The exhibit was also accompanied by a larger interpretive panel bearing a land acknowledgement written for the display and explaining the rationale behind it. While there is undoubtedly more work a future class to do, we were happy to bring some dignity to these belongings and to better contextualize them for future students.