One thing that interested me about searching for sources for the Four Views Project was in comparing my initial reactions about the object I chose to the interpretations I ended up writing about—I also think it will be interesting to see how my interpretations may develop as I research and discuss my object further for my final paper. The object I chose—rather arbitrarily, I just saw that it told some sort of story visually and was interested to see what that story was—is a Blackfoot story robe. One of the images on the robe is of human figures walking away from dead human figures. Each living figure carries an object that I had trouble interpreting: at first, I thought it was a drum of some sort, and maybe the figures were celebrating a historical battle won. Through a little research, I thought it was a medicine bundle or wheel, but I struggled to find any real objects from the Blackfoot Confederacy that looked very similar to it. Then I looked closer at the dead bodies, noticing blood around their heads, and realized the objects the living figures were holding may be scalps. I was thrown off by how large they were in scale, but I think the artist may have done that to emphasize their importance in the story.
The process of looking closely at multiple small details of one historical object was really interesting and enlightening, and truly difficult, because I have very little background in interpreting historical Indigenous art. This also made me think about the difference between having a physical object and a digitized version of an object. One way I think having a physical object might be more valuable for research than a digitized version is that smaller details—like fine/faded lines in a painting on bison skin, in the case of the story robe—are probably a lot easier to distinguish up close and without the technological limitations of viewing something online (quality potentially being distorted, lighting differences, etc.). Honestly, though, I don’t generally see physical being a lot better than digital, especially when thinking about the accessibility having digital libraries/museums provides. That being said, I have also wondered if having images of an object for free viewing online might be disrespectful, depending on said object’s particular cultural significance. I wonder how concepts of repatriation and return might come into play in that situation, or if they have already.
Hi Tove! Thank you for sharing these thoughts, and it was really interesting to read about your experience in choosing an item! I really like the Blackfoot Digital Library as a resource, and it is a great model for digital Native history collections. The robe is such an interesting object, and I understand how difficult it can be to interpret! I just ordered a book called “Blackfoot War Art” which I’ve used in the past, and it might be really helpful to you for trying to interpret items that use pictography! It should arrive tomorrow (5/17) and I’d be happy to let you borrow it!