Architecture of return, escape (The British Museum)
2022
Galanin’s work engages themes of persistence, power, and survival in the face of settler colonialism and its legacies of institutional racism and collective amnesia. Here, the floor plan of the British Museum is painted over a blue field. Pictograms of baskets, masks, woven hats, weapons, tools, and textiles reference the contested objects held in the museum’s collection, while a red line maps an escape route for these examples of Indigenous cultural production. In many Native cultures, hide paintings relay histories across generations and objects embody lineages; in referencing both, Galanin is proposing a getaway plan for his ancestors.
Pigment and acrylic on deer hide
36 x 55 in. (91.4 x 139.7 cm)
General Acquisition Fund
2022.33
Provenance: The artist; [Peter Blum Gallery, New York]; purchased from gallery by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2022
Photo: Scott Leen
