New Exhibit Explores Aboriginal Australia
The Museum’s latest exhibit, Return to Sender? Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Repatriation, features Aboriginal Australian art, tools, and other objects from the permanent collection. It discusses the complexities of sovereignty and ownership of these objects in museums and explores the idea of repatriation, returning objects to their communities of origin. In addition to Aboriginal material culture, the exhibit also features the short documentary “Engku-wa Angwala (Far Away from Home)” by Australian filmmaker Britten Syd Andrews, which follows members of the Anindilyakwa community from Groote Eylandt in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The impetus for this exhibit began in 2019, when the Return of Cultural Heritage (RoCH) program, an initiative of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), contacted the Lam Museum regarding the potential repatriation of Aboriginal objects held in its collection. Unfortunately, the Museum did not have access to provenance records which could detail the history of when and where objects originated, and without this information no affiliated communities could be identified. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are very diverse and distinct, so objects cannot simply be repatriated to any community. Additionally, some objects in the collection were acquired ethically and are not sacred, unique, or sensitive.
Ultimately, no objects were repatriated, but RoCH’s inquiry led to an interdisciplinary collaboration between the exhibit’s curators: Lam Museum Academic Director Dr. Andrew Gurstelle and Dr. Asia Parker (WFU BA ‘18). Dr. Parker’s research brought her to Canberra, Australia, to consult with the RoCH team and learn more about what should be done with objects that cannot be repatriated. Her research and interviews with the RoCH team emphasized repatriation as a process centered around Aboriginal communities rather than solely focused on objects. Regaining ownership of historical artifacts is important, but the knowledge and culture they represent is just as significant.
On Friday, March 20, at 5:00pm, Dr. Parker will return to the Lam Museum to present “Repatriation and Representation: Aboriginal Politics in Australia.” She will speak about the intersection of exhibit curation with her PhD dissertation research on Aboriginal political representation through international law, domestic politics, and art, with particular attention to museums as important sites of cultural identity and political expression.
Return to Sender? Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Repatriation will be on exhibit through August 15, 2026.