Native American Public History Exhibit

    A public history exhibit I would like to talk about is an art exhibit called “I Think it Goes Like This” located in Montclair, New Jersey. During the weekends, I work at the Montclair Art Museum, so fortunately I get to be around a lot of art often, so I figured one of the pieces would make a perfect example of an interesting public history exhibit. The Montclair Art Museum, since its opening to the public in 1914, has been known for its specialty in both traditional and contemporary Native American American Artwork, with its Rand gallery being dedicated entirely to a bi-yearly rotation of both old and new Native American art. Directly across from Rand is the McMullen Gallery which holds the subject of this paper. The piece is a wooden totem pole painted gold, which has been cut up, disheveled, and reorganized around the platform holding it. 

    The artwork was bought and displayed by Native American artist, Nicholas Galanin, who found the replica totem poles in an antique shop in Alaska. Originally made by Indonesian artists, Galanin felt its placement in the shop wasn’t right and sought to repurpose the totem poles himself. Totem poles are a very commonplace item found in mostly all Native American tribes, they could represent family lineage, territorial demarcation, or just art to be displayed and bought around the world. Galanin saw this replica totem pole’s inclusion in this antique shop as a sign of further disrespect and marginalization on to Native Americans, as it undercuts the price for actual Native totem poles and other art, and that it serves as a re appropriation of Native art, without any understanding or appreciation for the original. In response, the artist decided to buy the totem poles and to chop them up into pieces as a way to show his disdain towards the perceived disrespect of buying and selling of false items from his culture, at the expense of actual Native artists, and their authentic pieces.

Looking deeper into it, I think that this exhibit was very carefully displayed and works in a lot of different ways as a public history exhibit. First and foremost, the exhibit is very accessible to any on-looker, while art museums sometimes are known for their abstract works, which there is no shortage of at the Montclair Art Museum itself, this is not so much one of them. The piece is accessible enough to where viewers will identify what’s in front of them, as a totem pole but at the same time is arranged mysteriously enough to where they would naturally want to investigate more. The gold paint over the wood adds another layer of attractiveness that catches the viewer's eye as soon as they step into the room, the gold on top of the exposed wood of the replica totem poles could also double as a metaphor for the profits made at the expenses of Native Americans historically in America. I Think it Goes like This is centered right in the middle of the McMullen gallery as well, drawing all the attention in the room to the artwork, the fact that the piece is not protected by any glass, rope or even tape outline but rather, only sitting on a slim white platform adds an extra feeling of connection with the artwork, as a barrier you would typically find at a museum has been taken down, connecting the viewer with the piece even more than usual.

I Think it Goes Like this is arranged in a way that differs completely from its original straight traditional totem pole look. The poles are purposely in a state of disarray to reflect partially, the state of Native American communities and its rocky history with the government around the United States. The disorder of the pieces are also in use to make a broader statement on the artist Nicholas Galanin’s view of the replica pole itself. His disorganization can also be explained by a contradiction between an authentic totem pole, that comes with a cultural purpose and packed with history, religion and meaning and a replica totem pole made in Indonesia, and sold in an antique store, with no deeper meaning than to make a profit off of Native American themed designs, without any extra meaning the handmade native American ones do. The hacking and disorganization of the pieces by the artist is almost a way to show from his opinion on people impersonating native art, in Galanin’s mind, weather a non-native totem pole is in one piece, standing high or weather it’s chopped up into a million pieces with the paint chipping off it doesn’t really make a difference, because the replica Totem didn’t have the significance of a real totem to begin with. 

Overall, I believe that I Think Like This is very well executed from its concept, to visual intrigue, to accessibility, to the way the curators had the piece arranged in the gallery. The thought process behind each decision for the artist is interesting and meaningful to his overall philosophy, his sculpture alone can tell us about his view on life and thoughts on indigenous versus replicated Native American art. Anyone young or old, Indigenous or not, could view this exhibit and enjoy it and learn some things about Native American issues from it as well. The piece was not made to pander to any one particular group of people and is able to reach all different types of audiences.