Somehow, cherished Blackfoot items ended up in Devon, England. Now they're headed home
Chris Brown - 3h ago
cbc.ca
For Siksika Nation Chief Ouray Crowfoot, precisely how the beaded buckskin shirt and leggings his ancestor wore a century and a half ago ended up at a museum in Devon, England, is less important than finally having the opportunity this week to bring them back to southern Alberta.
"Were they sold? Were they stolen? Were they given as gifts? It was probably all of those things. I don't know how this got over here and I think it's irrelevant," Crowfoot told CBC News after an inspiring ceremony at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.
"They need to be back with the people who created these items."
The repatriation ceremony, which featured traditional Blackfoot or Siksika songs of heroism and colourful traditional headdresses, was the culmination of years of effort to repatriate a collection of items that belonged to the legendary Chief Crowfoot.
"It's a very strong emotional feeling reminding me about life back then," said Siksika councillor Jenny Goodin.
"I'm very honoured to be here and be reminded of Chief Crowfoot."
Crowfoot, who died in 1890, is revered by his people as a powerful warrior, an influential diplomat and a statesman whose influence transcended southern Alberta and was felt across the continent.
One of his legacies is Treaty 7, signed between the Blackfoot and the Crown.
Ouray Crowfoot, 42, is his great-great-great-great-grandson and the current Siksika chief who led the delegation to Exeter.
"These items were never intended to be in museums — they were intended to be with the living," Crowfoot told members of the Blackfoot delegation who were joined by members of Exeter's city council.
"Until I saw [the Crowfoot collection] with its rightful owners today .. you don't really understand its significance," said Jon-Paul Hedge, the director of Exeter City Council, which manages the museum and who has been part of the repatriation efforts for several years.
Exeter city council voted more than two years ago to return the collection of Crowfoot's items but the process was delayed by COVID-19 and travel restrictions, said Hedge.
"It's not about what happened in the past. It's about Exeter city's relationship with Siksika Nation now — these are their items and we are happy to see them go to their rightful home."
© Chris Brown/CBC
cbc.ca
For Siksika Nation Chief Ouray Crowfoot, precisely how the beaded buckskin shirt and leggings his ancestor wore a century and a half ago ended up at a museum in Devon, England, is less important than finally having the opportunity this week to bring them back to southern Alberta.
"Were they sold? Were they stolen? Were they given as gifts? It was probably all of those things. I don't know how this got over here and I think it's irrelevant," Crowfoot told CBC News after an inspiring ceremony at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.
"They need to be back with the people who created these items."
The repatriation ceremony, which featured traditional Blackfoot or Siksika songs of heroism and colourful traditional headdresses, was the culmination of years of effort to repatriate a collection of items that belonged to the legendary Chief Crowfoot.
"It's a very strong emotional feeling reminding me about life back then," said Siksika councillor Jenny Goodin.
"I'm very honoured to be here and be reminded of Chief Crowfoot."
Crowfoot, who died in 1890, is revered by his people as a powerful warrior, an influential diplomat and a statesman whose influence transcended southern Alberta and was felt across the continent.
One of his legacies is Treaty 7, signed between the Blackfoot and the Crown.
Ouray Crowfoot, 42, is his great-great-great-great-grandson and the current Siksika chief who led the delegation to Exeter.
"These items were never intended to be in museums — they were intended to be with the living," Crowfoot told members of the Blackfoot delegation who were joined by members of Exeter's city council.
"Until I saw [the Crowfoot collection] with its rightful owners today .. you don't really understand its significance," said Jon-Paul Hedge, the director of Exeter City Council, which manages the museum and who has been part of the repatriation efforts for several years.
Exeter city council voted more than two years ago to return the collection of Crowfoot's items but the process was delayed by COVID-19 and travel restrictions, said Hedge.
"It's not about what happened in the past. It's about Exeter city's relationship with Siksika Nation now — these are their items and we are happy to see them go to their rightful home."
© Chris Brown/CBC
Strater Crowfoot, left, and current Siksika Chief Ouray Crowfoot examine some of the artifacts being returned by the Royal Albert Memorial Museum.
The most prominent piece of the Crowfoot collection is the beaded buckskin shirt, decorated with locks of human hair, along with matching leggings.
There are also a bow, arrow, quiver, a pipe and other items.
They were all initially obtained from Crowfoot by Cecil Denny, a co-signatory of Treaty 7. From there, it appears he passed them onto a family member back in England who put them on display in Exeter.
© Dave Rae/CBC
The most prominent piece of the Crowfoot collection is the beaded buckskin shirt, decorated with locks of human hair, along with matching leggings.
There are also a bow, arrow, quiver, a pipe and other items.
They were all initially obtained from Crowfoot by Cecil Denny, a co-signatory of Treaty 7. From there, it appears he passed them onto a family member back in England who put them on display in Exeter.
© Dave Rae/CBC
The grave of Chief Crowfoot is in Blackfoot Crossing, near where he signed Treaty 7.
The museum officially purchased the items from the family in 1904 for the sum of 10 pounds — an exorbitant amount at the time — and has held them until now.
In the coming days, the Crowfoot items will be carefully packed and put on a specially chartered flight to bring them back to Calgary.
© Chris Brown/CBC
The museum officially purchased the items from the family in 1904 for the sum of 10 pounds — an exorbitant amount at the time — and has held them until now.
In the coming days, the Crowfoot items will be carefully packed and put on a specially chartered flight to bring them back to Calgary.
© Chris Brown/CBC
Councillor Jenny Goodin was part of the Blackfoot, or Siksika, delegation to Exeter and said she was 'very honoured to be here and be reminded of Chief Crowfoot.'
They're expected to arrive on May 25 and the Blackfoot are planning a welcoming ceremony as soon as the precious cargo clears customs and formally enters Alberta.
Beyond that, the plan is to put the items on display at the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park outside Calgary.
Siksika elder Herman Yellow Old Woman, a former cultural curator at the site, helped start the repatriation process almost a decade ago, and was visibly moved at Thursday's ceremony.
"It gives me chills to think Canadians will be able to be educated the proper way — with evidence — to see a true history of our people," he said, suggesting the repatriation will help with the national reconciliation that's ongoing between Canadian Indigenous communities and wider society.
© Chris Brown/CBC
They're expected to arrive on May 25 and the Blackfoot are planning a welcoming ceremony as soon as the precious cargo clears customs and formally enters Alberta.
Beyond that, the plan is to put the items on display at the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park outside Calgary.
Siksika elder Herman Yellow Old Woman, a former cultural curator at the site, helped start the repatriation process almost a decade ago, and was visibly moved at Thursday's ceremony.
"It gives me chills to think Canadians will be able to be educated the proper way — with evidence — to see a true history of our people," he said, suggesting the repatriation will help with the national reconciliation that's ongoing between Canadian Indigenous communities and wider society.
© Chris Brown/CBC
The items held by the Exeter museum included a beaded buckskin shirt worn by Chief Crowfoot and leggings.
"A lot of our children and grandchildren don't know our history and we are going to bring this home and we can share," said Yellow Old Woman.
In addition to meeting Exeter museum staff, the Siksika delegation has also been travelling further afield to visit British museums where other Blackfoot items are also being held.
Our CBC team met them at a museum in Bristol, where Yellow Old Woman surveyed several deer or elk shirts dating from the 19th century.
© Adrian Di Virgilio/CBC
"A lot of our children and grandchildren don't know our history and we are going to bring this home and we can share," said Yellow Old Woman.
In addition to meeting Exeter museum staff, the Siksika delegation has also been travelling further afield to visit British museums where other Blackfoot items are also being held.
Our CBC team met them at a museum in Bristol, where Yellow Old Woman surveyed several deer or elk shirts dating from the 19th century.
© Adrian Di Virgilio/CBC
Members of the Blackfoot delegate visit a museum in Bristol, England and examine regalia in its collection.
"They've been preserved [well]," he said of the collection in Bristol.
"But back home, we don't have old collections like this in North America, they're long gone. So it's amazing how well preserved a lot of them are, especially the shirts."
Ouray Crowfoot, the current chief, said the next step will be to hold similar discussions with the Bristol museum, and another in Manchester, to discuss future repatriations.
"When I see these things, these very well could have belonged to somebody in this room's great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather — so it's a real personal connection."
"They've been preserved [well]," he said of the collection in Bristol.
"But back home, we don't have old collections like this in North America, they're long gone. So it's amazing how well preserved a lot of them are, especially the shirts."
Ouray Crowfoot, the current chief, said the next step will be to hold similar discussions with the Bristol museum, and another in Manchester, to discuss future repatriations.
"When I see these things, these very well could have belonged to somebody in this room's great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather — so it's a real personal connection."
Siksika delegation builds relationships in the UK as repatriation of cultural, sacred items begins
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
Yesterday
After a “very emotional day” of ceremony on May 19 at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery in Exeter, England, regalia from Chief Crowfoot is on its way home to the Siksika Nation.
“There’s a living spirit in this material coming home,” said Herman Yellow Old Woman, who along with Kent Ayoungman performed the ceremonial songs.
The items were to have been returned in 2020, but the onset of the coronavirus pandemic delayed repatriation by two years.
Siksika Nation Chief Ouray Crowfoot, who led the small delegation to England, called the work that had been undertaken “very ground-breaking, not just for us, but for other First Nations, for other Indigenous people to repatriate these items.”
He noted that the trip from London to Exeter involved stopping at a number of museums along the way where other Blackfoot items were identified. Now relationships are begin formed with different curators as a new list of Blackfoot items to be repatriated is being created.
“A lot of these items have spread all over the world, but now it’s like their spirits are calling to bring us back home…We want to continue to bring more and more and more items back home,” said Crowfoot. “It’s about building these relationships.”
It’s that relationship, said Jon-Paul Hedge, director at Exeter City Council, that led to council passing a unanimous motion to return the items.
“This is very much in the spirit of the wishes of the people of Exeter, fully supportive of this and we’re absolutely delighted,” said Hedge. “It’s the start of a new relationship.”
Crowfoot’s regalia had been loaned to the museum in Exeter in 1878, a year after being acquired by Cecil Denny, who served as a Northwest Mounted Police for a time and was also one of the signatories of Treaty 7 in 1877 along with Crowfoot.
In 1904, the museum purchased the regalia. In 2013, the Siksika Nation went to Exeter and issued a formal request for the items to be repatriated. Those items include a buckskin shirt, a pair of leggings, a knife with feather bundle, two beaded bags and a horsewhip.
Elders from the Blackfoot Confederacy made their first trip to England in 2011 where they attended a conference at Oxford and Blackfoot items were unveiled. Ayoungman and Yellow Old Woman were part of that delegation too and they performed ceremonial songs.
That was also “very touching,” said Ayoungman.
Hedge said Exeter will work with other museums to help the repatriation process along.
“This isn’t a one-and-done,” said Hedge. “We’ve got some learning from having gone through this experience from a city council and museum point of view…We can share that experience to maybe speed up the process with other institutions.”
Crowfoot said he felt a “mutual respect” in dealing with the other curators.
“It may have taken 10-15 years to get that door open, but now the door’s open so it’s not going to be another 10-15 years to reopen it. That’s why I’ve said it’s all important in how you build these relationships. It’s just as important of what you do; it’s more important as to how we’re doing it,” said Crowfoot.
Yellow Old Woman agreed.
“It’s only been 30 years in North America that we’ve been repatriating into our communities. So for overseas it’s going to be a learning process, not only for the museums but also the customs (in airports). It’s nothing that they’ve ever experienced. It’s totally new,” he said.
As for the Crowfoot regalia, a shipping company that specializes in antiquities will undertake the packaging and transportation.
A coming home ceremony is scheduled for May 25 in Calgary.
The Siksika Nation will lend Chief Crowfoot’s belongings to the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park for display.
However, said Yellow Old Woman, there is the possibility that some of the items may be transferred to people who have been raised in the Siksika ways and who “will take the responsibility in putting them back in the cycle that they were in when they left home 130 years ago.”
Crowfoot said he “definitely” felt connected to the items.
“When these things come back to Siksika, somebody comes into Blackfoot Crossing and they…have that intimate relationship with some of these things. It’s a physical connection that ties you back to your ancestors and even if you’re not a Crowfoot you’re still a Blackfoot,” said Crowfoot.
Windspeaker.com
By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com
After a “very emotional day” of ceremony on May 19 at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery in Exeter, England, regalia from Chief Crowfoot is on its way home to the Siksika Nation.
“There’s a living spirit in this material coming home,” said Herman Yellow Old Woman, who along with Kent Ayoungman performed the ceremonial songs.
The items were to have been returned in 2020, but the onset of the coronavirus pandemic delayed repatriation by two years.
Siksika Nation Chief Ouray Crowfoot, who led the small delegation to England, called the work that had been undertaken “very ground-breaking, not just for us, but for other First Nations, for other Indigenous people to repatriate these items.”
He noted that the trip from London to Exeter involved stopping at a number of museums along the way where other Blackfoot items were identified. Now relationships are begin formed with different curators as a new list of Blackfoot items to be repatriated is being created.
“A lot of these items have spread all over the world, but now it’s like their spirits are calling to bring us back home…We want to continue to bring more and more and more items back home,” said Crowfoot. “It’s about building these relationships.”
It’s that relationship, said Jon-Paul Hedge, director at Exeter City Council, that led to council passing a unanimous motion to return the items.
“This is very much in the spirit of the wishes of the people of Exeter, fully supportive of this and we’re absolutely delighted,” said Hedge. “It’s the start of a new relationship.”
Crowfoot’s regalia had been loaned to the museum in Exeter in 1878, a year after being acquired by Cecil Denny, who served as a Northwest Mounted Police for a time and was also one of the signatories of Treaty 7 in 1877 along with Crowfoot.
In 1904, the museum purchased the regalia. In 2013, the Siksika Nation went to Exeter and issued a formal request for the items to be repatriated. Those items include a buckskin shirt, a pair of leggings, a knife with feather bundle, two beaded bags and a horsewhip.
Elders from the Blackfoot Confederacy made their first trip to England in 2011 where they attended a conference at Oxford and Blackfoot items were unveiled. Ayoungman and Yellow Old Woman were part of that delegation too and they performed ceremonial songs.
That was also “very touching,” said Ayoungman.
Hedge said Exeter will work with other museums to help the repatriation process along.
“This isn’t a one-and-done,” said Hedge. “We’ve got some learning from having gone through this experience from a city council and museum point of view…We can share that experience to maybe speed up the process with other institutions.”
Crowfoot said he felt a “mutual respect” in dealing with the other curators.
“It may have taken 10-15 years to get that door open, but now the door’s open so it’s not going to be another 10-15 years to reopen it. That’s why I’ve said it’s all important in how you build these relationships. It’s just as important of what you do; it’s more important as to how we’re doing it,” said Crowfoot.
Yellow Old Woman agreed.
“It’s only been 30 years in North America that we’ve been repatriating into our communities. So for overseas it’s going to be a learning process, not only for the museums but also the customs (in airports). It’s nothing that they’ve ever experienced. It’s totally new,” he said.
As for the Crowfoot regalia, a shipping company that specializes in antiquities will undertake the packaging and transportation.
A coming home ceremony is scheduled for May 25 in Calgary.
The Siksika Nation will lend Chief Crowfoot’s belongings to the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park for display.
However, said Yellow Old Woman, there is the possibility that some of the items may be transferred to people who have been raised in the Siksika ways and who “will take the responsibility in putting them back in the cycle that they were in when they left home 130 years ago.”
Crowfoot said he “definitely” felt connected to the items.
“When these things come back to Siksika, somebody comes into Blackfoot Crossing and they…have that intimate relationship with some of these things. It’s a physical connection that ties you back to your ancestors and even if you’re not a Crowfoot you’re still a Blackfoot,” said Crowfoot.
Windspeaker.com
By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com
Adrian Stimson's bison paintings force viewers to reckon with Canada's colonial history
Lauren Sproule -
cbc.ca
A solitary bison walks the snow-covered Prairie plains, swathed in rich colours of red and dark brown, the only sign of life in an otherwise barren landscape.
Variations of this image appear over and over again in Alberta Indigenous artist Adrian Stimson's first solo European exhibit, which opened in London, England, on May 16.
Stimson said he hoped his collection, entitled Manifest Buffalo: A Bison Dream, would create a space for people to engage in conversations about Canada's dark history with Indigenous people.
The title of the exhibit is a nod to "manifest destiny," the 19th-century cultural belief that the North American settlers were destined to colonize the continent.
© Lauren Sproule/CBC
Siksika Nation's relationship with the Crown
At the exhibit opening, Stimson welcomed attendees in the Blackfoot language and wore his traditional headdress as a means of bringing his ancestors and descendants into the room, he said.
He added that donning his regalia also reaffirmed the Siksika Nation's special relationship with the Crown, one that was cemented in legislation by the signing of a treaty in 1877, which established an area of land for the tribes, promised annual payments from the Queen and ensured continued hunting and trapping rights in exchange for the Siksika ceding their rights to their traditional territory.
© Lauren Sproule/CBC
Lauren Sproule -
cbc.ca
A solitary bison walks the snow-covered Prairie plains, swathed in rich colours of red and dark brown, the only sign of life in an otherwise barren landscape.
Variations of this image appear over and over again in Alberta Indigenous artist Adrian Stimson's first solo European exhibit, which opened in London, England, on May 16.
Stimson said he hoped his collection, entitled Manifest Buffalo: A Bison Dream, would create a space for people to engage in conversations about Canada's dark history with Indigenous people.
The title of the exhibit is a nod to "manifest destiny," the 19th-century cultural belief that the North American settlers were destined to colonize the continent.
© Lauren Sproule/CBC
Adrian Stimson is a celebrated Indigenous artist from Alberta who was awarded the Governor General's Award for Visual and Media Arts in 2018, the Blackfoot Visual Arts Award in 2009, the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005 and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003.
"As human beings, we all have to get along. But that doesn't mean that we should forget what happened, because when we forget what happens … it will continue to happen," said the 58-year-old Stimson, a member of the Siksika First Nation, who spoke to CBC on the night of the opening.
In 36 paintings created especially for the exhibition, Stimson reimagines the bison in a variety of scenes: sharing the canvas with a nuclear explosion; fenced in by a pipeline; and a calf playfully leaping through the air, an oil rig in the background.
© Lauren Sproule/CBC
"As human beings, we all have to get along. But that doesn't mean that we should forget what happened, because when we forget what happens … it will continue to happen," said the 58-year-old Stimson, a member of the Siksika First Nation, who spoke to CBC on the night of the opening.
In 36 paintings created especially for the exhibition, Stimson reimagines the bison in a variety of scenes: sharing the canvas with a nuclear explosion; fenced in by a pipeline; and a calf playfully leaping through the air, an oil rig in the background.
© Lauren Sproule/CBC
The bison has found its way into Stimson's work since he began painting in 1999. This painting juxtaposes a jumping calf with an oil pumpjack.
The juxtaposition of this centuries-old icon of the Prairies roaming next to modern-day items such as an airplane was not lost on art fan Adam Heaton, who visited the exhibit on opening night.
"There's a past, present and future theme going on here, but you're not quite sure what the future is, and there's an inherent tension in that," said Heaton.
'This is something different'
Housed in a small gallery at Gurr Johns, an art advisory and appraisal group, Stimson's collection is a welcome change in genre from the works of Old Masters that had adorned the walls of the space just a week before, said senior director Spencer Ewen.
"This is something different," Ewen said, "but equally valid and equally relevant."
He reflected on the significance of an Indigenous voice having a platform on the historic Pall Mall, "the bastion of traditional art," which was the centre of London's fine art scene in the early 19th century.
Once home to the Royal Academy, the National Gallery and Christie's auction house, the artists who were permitted to develop and showcase their work here were white, European men.
Stimson, who is not only Indigenous but has a gender-bending alter ego named Buffalo Boy, provides a strong contrast.
© Lauren Sproule/CBC
The juxtaposition of this centuries-old icon of the Prairies roaming next to modern-day items such as an airplane was not lost on art fan Adam Heaton, who visited the exhibit on opening night.
"There's a past, present and future theme going on here, but you're not quite sure what the future is, and there's an inherent tension in that," said Heaton.
'This is something different'
Housed in a small gallery at Gurr Johns, an art advisory and appraisal group, Stimson's collection is a welcome change in genre from the works of Old Masters that had adorned the walls of the space just a week before, said senior director Spencer Ewen.
"This is something different," Ewen said, "but equally valid and equally relevant."
He reflected on the significance of an Indigenous voice having a platform on the historic Pall Mall, "the bastion of traditional art," which was the centre of London's fine art scene in the early 19th century.
Once home to the Royal Academy, the National Gallery and Christie's auction house, the artists who were permitted to develop and showcase their work here were white, European men.
Stimson, who is not only Indigenous but has a gender-bending alter ego named Buffalo Boy, provides a strong contrast.
© Lauren Sproule/CBC
Manifest Buffalo, which opened in London on May 16, marks Adrian Stimson's first solo European exhibition. Other solo exhibitions are planned for Germany and Japan in the coming year.
Stimson's solo European debut was attended by Jonathan Sauvé, the head of public diplomacy for the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom, who thanked Stimson for bringing his art to Britain.
"Canada has a lot of work to do … but we truly believe that arts and culture are probably the best way to advance Indigenous reconciliation and expression," said Sauvé.
Stimson, whose Blackfoot name is Little Brown Boy, began painting in 1999, after he left his role as a tribal councillor for his First Nation. He considers himself to be an interdisciplinary artist, and his sculpture, photography and performances have been presented across Canada and internationally.
This is not the first time Stimson's reimaginings of the bison have caught the attention of the London art scene. In 2016, two of his paintings were purchased by the British Museum for its Blackfoot collection.
The role of the bison
The historical and cultural significance of the bison to First Nations is a major part of why the animal features so prominently in his dossier, Stimson said.
Bison was a source of food and clothing as well as a fixture of Siksika spirituality, among other purposes, that was almost entirely wiped out by the fur trade, as detailed in George Colpitts's 2014 book Pemmican Empire: Food, Trade and the Last Bison Hunts in the North American Plains, 1780–1882.
"Every time I paint a bison, it's a memory of one of those slaughtered," said Stimson.
"At that time of the slaughter, I believe that that energy, those particles, were released into the universe. And I believe that it still exists in and around us. So as an artist, I get the pleasure and the privilege of being able to sort of reach into that ether and sort of grab that energy, bring it into myself and create the work."
Stimson's solo European debut was attended by Jonathan Sauvé, the head of public diplomacy for the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom, who thanked Stimson for bringing his art to Britain.
"Canada has a lot of work to do … but we truly believe that arts and culture are probably the best way to advance Indigenous reconciliation and expression," said Sauvé.
Stimson, whose Blackfoot name is Little Brown Boy, began painting in 1999, after he left his role as a tribal councillor for his First Nation. He considers himself to be an interdisciplinary artist, and his sculpture, photography and performances have been presented across Canada and internationally.
This is not the first time Stimson's reimaginings of the bison have caught the attention of the London art scene. In 2016, two of his paintings were purchased by the British Museum for its Blackfoot collection.
The role of the bison
The historical and cultural significance of the bison to First Nations is a major part of why the animal features so prominently in his dossier, Stimson said.
Bison was a source of food and clothing as well as a fixture of Siksika spirituality, among other purposes, that was almost entirely wiped out by the fur trade, as detailed in George Colpitts's 2014 book Pemmican Empire: Food, Trade and the Last Bison Hunts in the North American Plains, 1780–1882.
"Every time I paint a bison, it's a memory of one of those slaughtered," said Stimson.
"At that time of the slaughter, I believe that that energy, those particles, were released into the universe. And I believe that it still exists in and around us. So as an artist, I get the pleasure and the privilege of being able to sort of reach into that ether and sort of grab that energy, bring it into myself and create the work."
Siksika Nation's relationship with the Crown
At the exhibit opening, Stimson welcomed attendees in the Blackfoot language and wore his traditional headdress as a means of bringing his ancestors and descendants into the room, he said.
He added that donning his regalia also reaffirmed the Siksika Nation's special relationship with the Crown, one that was cemented in legislation by the signing of a treaty in 1877, which established an area of land for the tribes, promised annual payments from the Queen and ensured continued hunting and trapping rights in exchange for the Siksika ceding their rights to their traditional territory.
© Lauren Sproule/CBC
At the opening, Adrian Stimson welcomed attendees in the Blackfoot language and wore his traditional headdress. He said it was a way to bring his ancestors and descendants into the space.
Stimson maintained that this "nation-to-nation relationship" will remain strong as long as "the sun shines, grass grows and river flows."
Manifest Buffalo: A Bison Dream is opening the same week that other members of Stimson's nation are travelling to a museum in Exeter, in southwestern England, to repatriate several items belonging to Crowfoot, a late-nineteenth-century Blackfoot leader.
Stimson himself was invited to participate. As a former president of the First Nations Confederacy Culture Education Centres, Stimson said he "forwarded a lot of legislation" on the repatriation of historical artifacts.
The artist said that in "bringing the herd" to London, the bison has once again become a means of survival, stirring painful memories of colonization and teaching the world about the resilience of his people.
Stimson maintained that this "nation-to-nation relationship" will remain strong as long as "the sun shines, grass grows and river flows."
Manifest Buffalo: A Bison Dream is opening the same week that other members of Stimson's nation are travelling to a museum in Exeter, in southwestern England, to repatriate several items belonging to Crowfoot, a late-nineteenth-century Blackfoot leader.
Stimson himself was invited to participate. As a former president of the First Nations Confederacy Culture Education Centres, Stimson said he "forwarded a lot of legislation" on the repatriation of historical artifacts.
The artist said that in "bringing the herd" to London, the bison has once again become a means of survival, stirring painful memories of colonization and teaching the world about the resilience of his people.
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