This Exhibition is about now: Tasmanian Aboriginality at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

Abstract

This article focuses on the design and execution of two exhibits about Tasmanian Aboriginality at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The first is a Tasmanian Aboriginal group exhibit from 1931, which was heavily informed by ideologies of Tasmanian primitivity and extinction. The second is 2008's tayenebe, a celebration of the resurgence of fiber work among Tasmanian Aboriginal women. In each instance, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people are on display, but the level of community control and subtext is notably different. This article builds on discussions of cultural revitalization and reclamation by showing the process and how it is depicted for public consumption. [cultural revitalization, representation, indigeneity, Tasmania, Australia]