Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Lennox and Addington County Museum and Archives is reaching out to Tyendinaga’s Kanhiote Library and the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte to create a new exhibit.
Titled Getting To Know Our Neighbours, the exhibit is set to open in February 2021 with a display featuring art, clothing, jewelry and photographs.
All of the items on display will be on loan from members of the Mohawk community.
“”We wanted to present an Indigenous story and we just felt we had to go to our neighbours to present that story as best as possible and use their knowledge and have their guidance on how to present objects and stories from their community,” said JoAnne Himmelman, curator for the Lennox and Addington Museum and Archives.
Wanting to get an authentic representation of the Mohawk culture, Himmelman reached out to Callie Hill, executive director of the Tsi Tyónheht Onkwawén:na (TTO) Language and Cultural Centre in Tyendinaga. The cultural centre has since requested anyone from their community with artifacts or heirlooms that reflect Mohawk agricultural and land, education, spirituality, arts and artisans, politics and governance or warriors to consider loaning it to the museum for the exhibit. The deadline to loan an item to be included in the exhibit is Nov. 27. All items will be returned to their owners in March 2021. Anyone interested in contributing to the exhibit can call 613-970-3045 or email TinaBrant@Kenhteke.org.
Hill says the exhibit is a chance for residents of Lennox and Addington to get to know the real Mohawk story.
“We’ve talked about it many times with different people in our surrounding areas that the Tyendinaga Territory has been there since 1784 and we don’t really know our surrounding neighbours and they don’t know who we are,” said Hill. “This is going to give us an opportunity to get the information out there. It’s getting to know our neighbours then and now. It’s like a history lesson about how we were when we arrived and how things are now, because there are still people who don’t realize we are contemporary people. It’s just a chance for us to get the history out as well.”
Rather than read a history written by an outsider about their culture, the exhibit will be a firsthand account of the stories and people who helped shaped the Bay of Quinte Mohawks.
“We are so much more than what meets the eye upon first glance,” said Hill. “I think it’s important for us, especially at this time, to get that out there and really try to engage our community as well so we are asking them to share any of their historical treasures that they may have that we don’t necessarily know about so we can come together as a community to pull this exhibition together to help educate our neighbours.”
Those that loan items for the exhibit will have an opportunity to include any information about the item, as well as to speak with the curator to have input as to the best way to display it.
“The museum is simple the vehicle for the Bay of Quinte Mohawks to tell their story,” said Himmelman. “They are appealing to their own community for objects to be displayed in the exhibit as well as artwork and photographs and they’re bringing it all to me and the museum has simply just become the vehicle and we’re really proud and happy to do that.”
Part of the exhibit will include original artwork by Mohawk artisans.
“The other really neat take on this is that we have our art hallway and they’ve actually asked artists from their community to create brand new works of art in the theme of getting to know our neighbours,” said Himmelman. “There will be brand new works of art displayed, along with this exhibit that ties in with that theme.”
Depending on what COVID-19 allows for in February, the museum is also developing a series of programs that will accompany the exhibit. An official launch will be announced closer to February with plans to include demonstrations.
“Basically it’s breaking down that invisible barrier between us because they are our neighbours, they’re in our backyard and getting to know them is not something we should be afraid of,” said Himmelman. “Let’s be honest and open with each other. We’re hoping this exhibit is just the start of that.”
As for the TTO, they hope the exhibit will allow their neighbours to better understand who they really are. They also hope it’s a stepping-stone towards getting a permanent exhibit at their language centre.
“Our goal at the language and cultural centre at some point is to have a museum as well,” said Hill. “This is a good experience for us to have, working together with Lennox and Addington on this event. It’s been on the wish list of the community for quite awhile.”
For more on the TTO, visit www.tto-kenhteke.org.