Friday, April 17, 2020

[rise and fall of civilization - exhibit]


The Rise and Fall of Civilization exhibit at the Glenbow Museum, Calgary. Miss Chief Ego Testickle driving the buffalo to the cliff. Photo by rob goetze


In the late summer of 2019, I visited the Glenbow Museum with one specific goal in mind: to see the exhibit "The Rise and Fall of Civilization" by Kent Monkman, a Cree two-spirit artist based in Toronto.

From the museum's website:
The Rise and Fall of Civilization exhibit at the Glenbow Museum, Calgary. Closeup of "picasso" buffalo. Photo by rob goetze
Kent Monkman’s The Rise and Fall of Civilization references the near extinction of the American bison in the 1800s when unsustainable hunting practices, used primarily by white settlers, reduced the number of bison from over 30 million to just a few hundred by the 1880s. During this time, bison or buffalo were hunted for their durable hides and their bones were used for fertilizer and in the manufacture of bone china. The buffalo meat was left to rot, decimating a food source that had sustained Indigenous peoples for generations.
(source



The Rise and Fall of Civilization exhibit at the Glenbow Museum, Calgary. Miss Chief Ego Testickle driving the buffalo to the cliff. Distant view. Photo by rob goetze


Read more at the Glenbow Site: https://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/kent-monkman-the-rise-and-fall-of-civilization/

The exhibit is long-term at the Glenbow, so be sure to check it out once the pandemic is over.


For a video about one of Monkman's other works, The Deluge, visit:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OqbhG4BX6oU

All photos by rob goetze. (c) 2019.

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