Wampum exhibit at Ganondagan is a homecoming for history 

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A collection of belts, beaded items, and artifacts original to the Indigenous people of this region are back in traditional Haudenosaunee territory for the first time since being given to Europeans nearly 300 years ago — and they are on display at Ganondagan’s Seneca Art & Culture Center.

The pieces belong to the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris but are on display at Ganondagan now and through the summer. The exhibit, “WAMPUM/OTGOÄ,” runs until Sept. 16, before traveling to the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal, and then home to Paris.

Michael Galban, Ganondagan’s manager and curator for the exhibit, said representatives of the Parisian museum contacted him in 2020 wanting advice on mounting an exhibition of the items as they related to French diplomacy.

“And that I was happy to do, but I really encouraged them to think more broadly about the exhibition,” Galban said. "I wanted them to include a diversity of Haudenosaunee voices so that they could gain a better understanding of what they're actually holding and what they're actually exhibiting, because the objects they have don't have much cultural interpretation associated with them.”

The French curators took his advice and agreed to the project also being shown at Ganondagan. They helped Galban secure grants to develop an exhibition that was first launched in Paris last year before opening at the SACC in late March.

A lesson in this display that Galban wants to emphasize is that these objects were not only given to Europeans as gifts to foster diplomacy, but that they were made during a time of relative parity between Indigenous tribes and settlers from France, England, and the Dutch Republic.

“All of this territory was Haudenosaunee, and there was an interest in expanding the European colonies and the Haudenosaunee people were in the middle of this grand negotiation over time, and the wars that took place,” Galban said. “These objects were made at a time when one nation was not over another, and there was an equity to the alliances that were being formed.”

A handful of works by contemporary Indigenous artists are displayed alongside the historic wampum objects. One of the contributors is Skawennati, a Mohawk artist based in Montreal who works in Haudenosaunee futurism.

“We have an historic past here at Ganondagan, and we also talk about contemporary Haudenosaunee life,” Galban said. “But what she’s interested in is, what will the future look like and how does wampum fit into that future? Her pieces are actually belts that imagine a future where relationships with extra-extraterrestrials would fit into that sort of diplomatic process."

Associated programming throughout the run of the exhibition includes presentations by artists on a monthly basis. For details, visit ganondagan.org.

Rebecca Rafferty is an arts writer at CITY. She can be reached at [email protected].