MUSEUM news AMAZONIA Geneva—The Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève’s major exhibition for 2016 will be devoted to the arts of Amazonia. At nearly 6,000 objects, the museum holds one of the world’s most important collections of this material. From May 20, 2016, through January 8, 2017, Amazonie, le chamane et la pensée de la forêt (Amazonia: The Shaman and the Mind of the Forest) 48 will present a vast array of objects from the many ethnic groups—Kayapó, Wayana, Bororo, Yanomami, Karaja, etc.—living in the nine countries of the Amazonian forest basin. Feather ornaments, bows and arrows, musical instruments, and objects of both ritual and utilitarian use will represent the past and present of these societies, which draw their cultural identity from the natural environment around them. The exhibition will extend beyond the walls of the museum and into the city of Geneva through photographs by MEG photographer Jonathan Watts, often closeups, of several of the masterpieces on display. LEFT: Woman’s cache-sexe. Marajoara, Marajó Island, Brazil. AD 400–1400. Donated by Frédéric Dusendschön in 1960. Ex Oscar Dusendschön, a rubber producer from Manaus, 1890–1914. MEG inv. ETHAM 029538. RIGHT: Man’s labret, rembékwar or rembé-pipo. Ka’apor, Javaruhu village, Rio Gurupi, Maranhão, Brazil. C. 1960. Collected by anthropologist Gustaaf Verswijver in 1977. Feathers, cotton. H: 15 cm. MEG inv. ETHAM 040862. LEFT: Diadem, me-àkà. Kayapo-Mekrãgnoti, upper Rio Iriri, Pará, Brazil. 1970s. Collected by anthropologist Gustaaf Verswijver in 1977. Feathers, cotton. H: 15 cm. MEG inv. ETHAM 040861. Four MEG images © MEG/J. Watts. ABOVE: Rattle. Kwakwaka’wakw, British Columbia. Alder wood, tree root, pigment. H: 33 cm. Private collection. © Guy Mifsud RIGHT: Antoine Tzapoff, Kolosh: Tlingit Warrior. 2015. Acrylic on canvas. Private collection. © Jean-Louis Losi, Paris. SONS OF THE GREAT RAVEN La Rochelle—With its current exhibition, Les fi ls de Grand Corbeau (Sons of the Great Raven), the Musée du Nouveau Monde is renewing its commitment to familiarize the French public with the great Native American cultures. The unique characteristics of these are not widely understood there and these diverse peoples are too often referred to generically simply as “Indians.” On view until June 13, 2016, this exhibition explores the communities of the Northwest Coast, one of the most populated North American regions at the time of European contact. A selection of more than 120 objects from private and public French collections (including those of the Musée du Quai Branly, the Musée de Boulogne-sur-Mer, and the Lille and La Rochelle museums) offers an opportunity to experience a wealth of artistic traditions, both past and present. Textiles, sculptures, and objects associated with the potlatch (the societal custom of gifting that is so deeply rooted among the region’s communities) together provide a sensitive and respectful image of the diversity of these peoples—Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Nuxalk, to mention but a few. While culturally distinct, these peoples shared a sustainable lifeway centered on the rivers and ocean (and most notably the salmon), which serve as a food source, and on the forests, which provide the wood, fi ber, and animal products vital to the manufacture of their tools, clothing, and structures.
•TribalPaginaIntera.indd
To see the actual publication please follow the link above