Melbourne museum conference yielded insights on a changing world
What you need to know:
- In Australia, ironically, service is predominantly given by Caucasians and Asians, but an American mind is transatlantic, I suppose.
- Then there were these people who wore the same pair of jeans and haggard boots for the five days of the conference and thus you recognize them, not by name or nationality, but by their rugged attire. I think this is a classical misinterpretation of "rugged good looks".
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) has been holding its triennial meeting in Melbourne, Australia.
At the conference, the international community of conservation professionals meets to discuss pertinent matters affecting the conservation of heritage.
There is no doubt that the work that conservators engage in has been the source of national pride; think of the pyramids, Axum, the Colosseum, all the priceless art on the world market and in galleries, and private collections whose conditioning has been the work of conservators for years.
What has really occupied my mind, nonetheless, during the workshop is the amazing state of being human that nature has conserved, which either makes life that much more beautiful or just miserable.
Being in Australia, the rights of indigenous peoples always come up, coupled with their amazing cultural practices, art and heritage.
I could not resist asking to take pictures with aboriginals, although deep inside I felt that they should not be asked to come to conferences for over 600 international delegates to stare at them.
But I asked myself how different I am from them, when, in a predominantly Caucasian environment, a person who decides to ask where the spoons are, where more wine is, does so from any black person in the room, because they assume that any black person is in the room to give service, not professional input.
In Australia, ironically, service is predominantly given by Caucasians and Asians, but an American mind is transatlantic, I suppose.
AFRICA 'UNDERREPRESENTED'
I am guessing, though, from what I saw, that the worst thing to look like right now is Arab or Middle Eastern. Funnily enough, many peoples of North Africa do not consider themselves to be African, but in the current world status the joke is on them.
It is just shocking to have Arab-looking people asked what "kind of help" they would like, and when they indicate that they are delegates, are asked to display their conference badges at all times.
But they are not alone; some people closely associate African nations with skin colour.
One delegate walked up to me and declared that Africa was underrepresented. I asked her why, and she said there were only five of us; she meant black people.
The truth is, only three black people were from Africa. The rest were from islands far away in places that many Africans have never heard of.
'RUGGED GOOD LOOKS'
The statement "aging population" truly sunk home at this conference. Only Asian and African presenters were largely young.
Many of the European presenters kept referring to their heritage works from the 80s and I kept wondering how old they were. But that also tells me that Africans and Asians are the future even in heritage management. We just have to keep focused.
Then there were these people who wore the same pair of jeans and haggard boots for the five days of the conference and thus you recognize them, not by name or nationality, but by their rugged attire. I think this is a classical misinterpretation of "rugged good looks".
At this conference, I also had a chance to look into heritage management from an outsider’s perspective. A Japanese speaker presented a paper on the 2012 tsunami that affected the coast of Japan. In one museum, all but two members of staff died and two are still missing to date.
But heritage professionals were busy rescuing artefacts and making efforts to restore them, not saving human lives. Talk about priorities being contrary to realities.
Twitter: @muthonithangwa
