Reece shares treasures of Tsimshian people

With a trove of traditional treasures of the Tsimshian people together in its entirety for the last time, members of various communities gathered to hear one artist's response to the deep-rooted issues surrounding the artifacts and to share their own opinions on the samematter.
Vancouver-based performing artist Skeena Reece debuted an original work entitled "We Are All One" on May 8 at the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology (MOA).
The work was created in response to the museum's exhibition "Treasures of the Tsimshian from the Dundas Collection." Much history surrounds this exhibit, with the saga of these particular artifacts beginning more than a century and a half ago. But the story really begins thousands of years ago, as information accompanying the museum's displays pays testament.
It notes, Laxyuubm Ts'myseen, the land of the Tsimshian, encompasses the Skeena River watershed of British Columbia from the Pacific Ocean east to the Skeena Mountains, and the coastal lands and offshore islands from the Nass River south to Douglas Channel.
The people have lived in this area for thousands of years, with nine tribes today based at Lax Kw'alaams and Metlakatla. Lax Kw'alaams was always an important resource area for the Tsimshian while Metlakatla was originally the site of winter villages.
In 1834, many of the Tsimshian moved to Lax Kw'alaams from Metlakatla after the Hudson's Bay Company located its most northerly trading post there - a thriving community grew there, known as Fort Simpson.
In 1862, exactly 50 Tsimshian people who were, Christian followers of an Anglican lay missionary named William Duncan, moved back to Metlakatla. Duncan had arrived at Fort Simpson five years before and wished to isolate the Christians from traditional Tsimshian life by starting a new community.
"For Duncan, Christianity was an either-or proposition; one could not be Christian while participating in feasting and winter ceremonials that involved the ritual presentation of spiritual power," information at the museum explains. "Those who moved to Metlakatla had to follow rules that included giving up traditional practices and regalia."
Of importance is the fact that every Tsimshian person is born into a lineage and a clan: Raven, Eagle, Wolf or Killerwhale. Each lineage owns territories, resources, names, ceremonial privileges and crests (dzapk) inherited through the female line.
Crests commemorate significant political and spiritual histories. Halaayt images represent spirit power and appear on the ceremonial regalia of many lineages. Because the Christians were made to give up traditional practices, Duncan acquired and sold some crest objects and regalia. One of Duncan's customers was Robert J. Dundas, a Scottish clergyman.
In 1863, Dundas toured the coast on a gunship commanded by a friend who was also intrigued by First Nations material culture. They had asked Duncan to gather a selection of objects for them, which included such beautiful and intricate things as a mask, chest, hat, head-dress section, combs, ladles, spoons, clappers, dishes, war clubs, figures and a shaman's rattle, among other things all currently on display at the MOA.
Dundas took the collection back to his home near Edinburgh where it hung on the wall in the billiard room.The collection remained in the family, largely intact, for 143 years before eventually being inherited by Dundas's great-grandson. He auctioned off the collection in its entirety in New York in October of 2006.
The approximately 80 artifacts sold for a combined total of $7 million dollars (US), more than twice the estimated value.
Canadian museums could afford only a few pieces, but some Canadian private collectors purchased much of the collection and 48 pieces were made available for display across the country in an exhibition, which culminated in the showing at the MOA, the last display before the items are to be dispersed.
Reece, who is of Tsimshian and Cree ancestry, was billed to be addressing "questions of ownership, authority, and repatriation raised by the history, sale, and exhibition of the Dundas collection through live music, dance, and multimedia."
Musicians Jason Burnstick and Cris Derkson accompanied Reece on guitar and cello. The performance also featured choral work by award-winning singer-songwriters Tamara Nile and Sandy Scofield, as well as a specially-commissioned dance by Melina Laboucan-Massimo with Andrea Bastien, visuals by Claudia Medina, and a contemporary Tsimshian mask by Simon Reece.
Reece's performance was abstract and very emotional, alluding to themes of both loss and healing. The sun set the stage as its slow descent to nightfall was clear through the large windows of the museum. The audience was led through a journey of song, dance and multimedia, featuring strong lyrics and imagery.
The performance drew to a close with the image of a hummingbird and immediately after finishing, through tears and laughter, Reece noted she chose that creature because of stories associated following it with healing. But she also commented, to great laughter, that the hummingbird is indigenous to North and South America and that its only predator is "an alien weed from Europe."
While the performance was certainly powerful and engaging, perhaps the most interesting part of the evening happened when, at the prodding of Reece, the audience opened up to discuss the issues surrounding the sale of artifacts.
Audience members shared a wide variety of passionate perspectives and ideas regarding the roles played in the past by individuals, governments and organizations - and what measures those same entities, and the Tsimshian people, should take in the future.
One of the issues most strongly debated was the role of museums, perhaps seemingly more controversial as the event was taking place at a museum under the direction of the museum. Some expressed they believed museums, in displaying artifacts like the Dundas collection, were making the best of a bad situation and at least strived to be respectful of all involved. Reece (and others) shot down opinions in this perspective, as she seemed to tend to do (not always nicely) with most opinions she didn't agree with. Reflecting afterwards, Reece, who is known for her provocative work, explained why.
"There were a lot of moments where I felt like we were listening to a tape player of what's always been played in terms of the colonial perspective, but I think that it's good that there are actually people here who can speak back to it," she said.
"I wanted to show that these so called objects that we own have meaning," she added. There is no 'it's over' or 'we're over it' or 'get over it' - we're in it.
Going forward, Reece said there is a lot of work to do. "The first thing we need to do is open up for dialogue and provide space that's safe and I think it's OK to have differing views," she said, perhaps not entirely in keeping with the seemingly abrupt tone with which she occasionally moderated the discussions.
"Some views are colonial, but they really need to hear other people's point of view," she added. "I know what's inherently true and I know what's right, and the fact that these objects got bought and sold the way that they did (is not). I (also) have a problem with museum practices - thank you for keeping our stuff while we're dying. That's a pretty backhanded thank-you, but that's the situation that we're in with these things.
"The spirit of the Tsimshian is not in these so-called artifacts; it's in us as human beings," she noted as a final message for her people.