The Background

The inspiration for this exhibition came from an experience I had walking through the streets in New York City in 2002. As I walked from 32nd Street to the former site of the World Trade Centre, I passed a dozen neighborhoods where the cultural composition and atmosphere changed dramatically every 5 or 6 blocks. One minute I was engulfed in Chinese culture, the next, in Cuban culture. A few minutes later, in another culture, without having left the city. The language of business from the corner store, to the bakery, the butcher shop, the dry cleaners and smoke shop was generally conducted in the language of that neighborhood and in some cases, English was not spoken. I had not encountered any Aboriginal people and I began wondering where the Aboriginal district was, if there indeed was one. I remembered the words of one of the staff members of the Native American Centre on 5th Ave in downtown New York City saying, “In New York City, we [Native Americans], are invisible people. We experience no prejudice. People don’t even know we exist”. I began to wonder how Aboriginal people in Canada manage to maintain their language, culture, identity, and traditional values and beliefs while living in urban centres, when it’s difficult enough to maintain these important values while living on reserves.

Morgan Baillargeon, curator