Settlers curate the city: Taylor Nishimura, ‘Rebuilding the City of Political Depression’, On Politics, 17, 1, 2024, pp. 59-75 | settler colonial studies blog

Settlers curate the city: Taylor Nishimura, ‘Rebuilding the City of Political Depression’, On Politics, 17, 1, 2024, pp. 59-75

09Aug24

Abstract: Drawing from Billy Ray Belcourt’s (2020) A History of My Brief Body, this article draws an analogy between the City of Victoria, B.C., located on unceded Lekwungen territory, and a museum to explore the affective nature of settler colonialism within the urban landscape. Like a museum, cities are curated. Each piece of art in a museum is collected and positioned relative to each other to tell a story. Likewise, the relationships between the people, objects, and spaces that make up the city denote the place’s meaning. This article considers how the ubiquity of Coast Salish symbols and imagery in the public art of Victoria’s built environment stands in comparison to the resurgent stewardship of the kwetlal (camas) system on Lekwungen traditional territories. Examining these elements through the lens of place, affect, and materiality, this article subverts the notion of “public art” in a critical examination of how different creative expressions of Indigenous presence are accentuated or made invisible in the built landscape. Illuminating the stories that have been hidden in urban spaces highlights the transformative power of collective expressions of Indigenous creativity.

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