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| Canadian and Chinese Aboriginals: art exhibit & roundtable dialogue |
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"Culture on Cloth", an exhibition of fine Inuit wall hangings was held at the Yunnan Ethnology Museum late last year. The exhibition, consisting of nineteen works by female artists from Baker Lake, Nunavut, was held in a venue which depicts the finest examples of Chinese minority and aboriginal art. |
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These Inuit people live in a harsh arctic environment surrounded by snow and ice more than ten months a year. These wall hangings sewn by Inuit women show the life and spirit of these people, a spirit formed in the most extreme natural conditions. Exposure to the Inuit way of life and view of the world through these works has been both enlightening and stimulating. This was the first time Canadian aboriginal culture works been exhibited in Yunnan province, the foyer of minority cultures in China, where over 20 recognised minorities live in an astounding variety of geographical habitats.
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Canadian Consul, Philippe Rheault opened the exhibition with VIPs from Yunnan provincial government and key cultural and minority arts institutions. During the opening ceremony, Canadian aboriginal music and a documentary film on Inuit cultural and daily life were played.
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Followed by the opening ceremony, a roundtable discussion about the challenges of preserving and promoting aboriginal art and culture in the face of rapid modernization and globalization was held. All the scholars and artists presented at the meeting were all engaged in ethnology and anthropology studies, and they had a good dialogue on aboriginal/ethnic culture.Yunnanese minority art was also featured widely in the show and elementary school students from around the province were invited to created wonderful pieces of Canadian Aboriginal-style art. Their creations will then be sent back to Canada for viewing by the Baker Lake aboriginal communities.
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| The curator of this exhibition Ms. Varney Burch visited Yunnan University, delivered a lecture on 'Art as the Eye of a Culture', and participated a workshop on ethnic cultural preservation also. During her presentation, Ms. Varney Burch introduced the Canadian Inuit people and their art and explained how the aboriginal women actually made their art and the significance of the symbols to Inuit people. |
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The Q & A session was dominated by Canadian government efforts to preserve the aboriginal culture and how Inuit people strike to develop their own unique culture and society. Having one of the most predominant local newspaper as one of our co-organizer, the event was promoted and covered widely before the opening and during the exhibition period. A whole page interview to the curator was published, as well as several pieces of event reports and introduction of Canadian aboriginal culture.
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The Canadian Constitution recognizes three groups of aboriginal people - Indians, Metis and the Inuit These are three separate and distinct peoples, each with unique languages, cultural practices, and spiritual beliefs. This innovative exhibition played an essential role in fostering the ongoing learning and mutual understanding of both Canadian and Chinese societies and cultures.
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Canadian values and our unique Canadian reality were profiled, as well as the artistic vibrancy of Canada's aboriginal communities, and Canada's relationship with Yunnan and China as a whole.
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Article provided by Coco Wen at the Consulate of Canada in Chongqing
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Arctic Inuit Art, 86 Mosher Road, RR#1 Kingsburg, Nova Scotia, Canada B0J 2X0 Toll free: 1-888-766-0777 fax: (902) 766-4099
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