The Project

I have received a Carte Blanche invitation to respond to the Paraguay collection at the British Museum. The objects in the collection are a starting point for the project, but they don't necessarily need to be part of the project. The objects are artefacts from the indigenous Enxet from the Southern Chaco region. They were collected mostly by anglican missionary Wilfrid Barbrooke Grubb (also Seymour Hawtrey) over the course of 30-40 years at the turn of the 20th century. I will write more about Barbrooke Grubb in a separate post. Which direction will my artist response take? It could be about the representation of the territory, or the context of the collection. Do I want to respond to museum practices and their role in colonialism? Perhaps the colonial practice of collecting leading to the displacement of the objects, similar to the displacement of people (a topic I've worked with before)? What is the connection between missionaries and colonial expansion? What part does the presence of missionaries play in the justification of land appropriation? Will I respond to reading materials and narrative? I'm interested in representation of narrative. Most articles and texts I've read are written from a euro-centric point of view, that of the missionary, the settler, the scientist. With great interest I've also read some first person narratives of indigenous voices who portray a very different (and eyeopening) narrative of certain events. Will I be able to offer a new perspective of some sort or find some positive points of resistance or conciliation through my work? I'm not sure yet where this project will take me or what I will end up creating, but I am curious to learn and explore as I reflect on difficult questions about my own colonial family history and indigenous/settler relations.