[BCMA] Royal BC Museum updates Skedans village display in First Peoples Gallery

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

September 18, 2018

Royal BC Museum adds new content
to refresh the First Peoples Gallery

VICTORIA, BC-Over the decades, thousands of Royal BC Museum visitors have peered with delight and interest at the detailed model of K'uuna Llnagaay, also known as the village of Skedans, Haida Gwaii, one of the mesmerizing centrepieces of the First Peoples Gallery.

Now, thanks to detailed input from Guujaaw, Haida artist, leader and hereditary Chief Gidansda, the museum has added fresh new audiovisual and textual material alongside the model village, providing an authoritative perspective and deeper cultural context.

"Generations of visitors have learned about and reflected upon Indigenous cultures in the First Peoples Gallery," says Prof. Jack Lohman, CEO of the Royal BC Museum. "But recognizing that many of the displays are decades old, we welcome the opportunity to convey, with fresh perspectives and mediums, the deep history of places like Skedans, places that have enormous cultural significance for Indigenous people today."

The additions are part of an incremental series of updates to the First Peoples Gallery, changes that mirror a collaborative relationship between the museum and the Indigenous peoples of BC and that reflect First Nations as living, contemporary and dynamic cultures.

Earlier this spring the museum added a new display on the gallery's mezzanine featuring Tsamiianbaan (Willy White), Tsimshian weaver and teacher. The display includes video footage of Mr. White weaving a Raven's Tail dance apron in the Royal BC Museum galleries, dance aprons from the museum's First Nations collections (including the one woven on-site by Mr. White) and new, vibrant explanatory text panels.

Recent additions like the Weaving and Skedans displays will impress upon visitors an important perspective: that First Nations traditions inform present-day cultural practices and are integral to the vitality of community life.

Other upgrades, such as new lighting on the casts of petroglyphs on the upper walls of the First Peoples Gallery, enhance visitors' experiences in these iconic spaces.

The Royal BC Museum will continue to modernize the First Peoples Gallery with updated exhibits, new text panels and improvements to accessibility-always consulting with and listening to Indigenous communities.

Great-West Life is a proud sponsor of the First Peoples Gallery re-scripting project.

About the Royal BC Museum

The Royal BC Museum explores the province's human history and natural history, advances new knowledge and understanding of BC, and provides a dynamic forum for discussion and a place for reflection. The museum and archives celebrate culture and history, telling the stories of BC in ways that enlighten, stimulate and inspire. Located in Victoria on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen (Songhees and Xwsepsum Nations), we are a hub of community connections in BC-onsite, offsite and online-taking pride in our collective histories.


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Media contact:
Royal BC Museum Media Inquiries
250-387-5051
news at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca<mailto:news at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca>

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