The grand collections housed in European museums have always called my attention. They are not only an opportunity to get to know important pieces of our American culture, but also an aid in understanding their histories, shedding light on complex relationships between America and Europe from the colonial period until the present.
It should be noted that a large number of Latin American archaeological objects are found in European museum collections today. This fact represents a new form of colonialism, where the elements of one culture must be studied and analysed in institutions pertaining to other cultures. Paradoxically, it is often necessary to travel to Europe to research American cultures.
LOST OBJECTS
This project works with pieces from the extreme south of the American continent, Patagonia, that were taken to the British Museum during explorations by the British Empire in the and centuries. Many of these th th 18 19 pieces have never been exhibited in the museum, and have remained in storage since their arrival.
My visits to the British Museum’s storage aim to fulfil three specific objectives:
1- Make sketches of a series of objects to replicate the practices of the first explorers who drew tools, people and landscapes during their travels. My objective is not only to draw the objects, but also the “landscape” that surrounds them now. In this way, these new drawings present a critical view of the museum and conservation practices, showing labels, boxes and shelves as their new context.
2- Observe, measure and register selected objects, to create a series of life-size reproductions. These do not seek to be a true copy or cast of the original, but a version that generates an alternative narrative. The pieces will be made from materials that come
from Europe, so they will travel in the opposite direction. Although I am still not sure about the materials, they could be elements that move constantly from Europe to America, like books, art magazines, everyday items or clothing. The concept was to create a series of elements that symbolically represent those inside the museum, but that “return” to South America as a way to re-establish balance.
3- To observe a selection of drawings that describe landscapes and people from Patagonia, paying full attention to every detail to distinguish and recognise all the elements that are not typical of America and its people. By extracting these foreign elements from the images, an alternative landscape that represents a distorted view will be created.
I have already contacted the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino of Santiago which is interested in contemporary art inspired by archaeological and anthropological collections.
Publications related to women’s and maternal health with Wixárika communities by the author of this exhibition
Gamlin, Jennie B. (2013)
Shame as a barrier to health seeking among indigenous Huichol migrant labourers: An interpretive approach of the “violence continuum” and “authoritative knowledge”
Social Science and Medicine 97 75-81
Gamlin, Jennie B. (2023)
Wixárika Practices of Medical Syncretism: An Ontological Proposal for Health in the Anthropocene
Medical Anthropology Theory 10 (2) 1-26
Gamlin, Jennie B. (2020)
“You see, we women, we can’t talk, we can’t have an opinion…”. The coloniality of gender and childbirth practices in Indigenous Wixárika families
Social Science and Medicine 252, 112912
Jennie Gamlin and David Osrin (2020)
Preventable infant deaths, lone births and lack of registration in Mexican indigenous communities: health care services and the afterlife of colonialism
Ethnicity and Health 25 (7)
Jennie Gamlin and Seth Holmes (2018)
Preventable perinatal deaths in indigenous Wixárika communities: an ethnographic study of pregnancy, childbirth and structural violence BMC
Pregnancy and Childbirth 18 (Article number 243) 2018
Gamlin, Jennie B. and Sarah J Hawkes (2015)
Pregnancy and birth in an Indigenous Huichol community: from structural violence to structural policy responses
Culture, health and sexuality 17 (1)
