Miniature Messages in Material Culture (original) (raw)

Monumental cedar carving is rightly considered to be one of the great Native American art forms, and yet miniature versions of these objects are far more commonly encountered in museum collections around the world. Imaginative and skilful constructions, miniature canoes and totem poles have often been dismissed by academic study as souvenirs, but I believe the real importance of these objects has been overlooked, in part by their removal from their original environments. This talk will explore my research into the hidden iconographies that miniature objects can contain and convey when they are restored to their original contextual networks.