Curating with Community

Abstract

Libraries have undergone rapid and exciting changes in the last decade. Their role has expanded beyond just collecting and preserving material, to actively engaging communities and curating their collections. While these ongoing changes have been largely successful, there remains a considerable disconnect between cultural institutions and Indigenous peoples.

It is now widely understood that access to material which reflects a person’s culture and history can play a profound role in determining their social, cultural and emotional wellbeing. The problem lies in the fact that for many Aboriginal people this material is hidden behind cultural, lingual and physical barriers; largely accessible to everyone but the people it relates to. If Indigenous peoples are expected to play a greater role in determining the future of these collecting institutions, there must first be some basic structures in place. Photographs and other heritage materials must be released back into Indigenous communities and Indigenous peoples must have a larger stake in the curation of Aboriginal heritage materials.

Historically a large amount of Aboriginal heritage material has been donated by non-Aboriginal people, and items have little in the way of identification, or context – often with simple captions such as “Blacks, WA” or “Man, Kimberley, 1940”. Comparatively, heritage material relating to non-Aboriginal people is often identified with incredible detail and accompanied by rich, primary sources including diaries,...