In the centre of the just-landed travelling exhibition at Salt Spring’s library, visitors will find a set of columns, just off-kilter enough to be noticeably disconcerting.
The piece, which presents photographs and text about early colonization, is appropriately called Disruption, and is a focal point for the award-winning Our Living Languages: First Peoples’ Voices in B.C. exhibit. Shown for the first time on Salt Spring Island, the interactive offering is the product of a collaboration between the Royal BC Museum and the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, and will be in the library’s community program room for several weeks, according to exhibit docents Eartha Linnell and Jenn Werner.
Through listening stations, touch screens, multimedia presentations and First Nations art, Our Living Languages invites viewers to learn more about Indigenous languages in B.C. — and to celebrate their remarkable resilience in the face of change. Something in the neighbourhood of 64 per cent of Canada’s Indigenous languages originate in the province, Linnell said, making the region a “hot spot.”
“There are recordings and videos made with elders of the different Indigenous communities in B.C.,” said Linnell. “It represents 36 languages; there were two recently recognized languages, the pentl’atch and Klallam languages, just added to the travelling exhibition.”
“Disruption” is meant to be slightly off-putting, she said. It speaks to the broken connections, the loss of identity that occurs when people are denied use of the words that have always helped scaffold their culture. The First Nations’ languages are so thoroughly grounded in context, Linnell said, they became wholly inseparable from the speakers’ histories — and the suppression of those languages, particularly in the absence of a written record, amounted to an erasure of history.
“Every story was told orally,” said Werner. “Nothing much was written down. It was mostly pictures and stories passed on by elders and ceremony.”
Many of those elders were tapped to record speaking parts for Our Living Languages, providing the voices behind the words — at a time when it’s increasingly critical to pass the knowledge forward.
“That’s part of what makes this exhibit so precious,” said Werner. “As those elders age, it’s become even more important that young people carry on the traditions.”
At an orthography station, visitors can press buttons to hear many of the more common — and sometimes challenging — pronunciations of what are often unfamiliar symbols. Another offers a wealth of short videos describing efforts both completed and underway to help these languages find continuing voices to speak them.
“All these different ways people are revitalizing the languages,” said Linnell, “like mentor programs, language ‘nests’ — where the young people feel surrounded by the language, even before they’re speaking — and immersion programs. It’s nice to see some success, some inspiration.”
The original feature exhibition the travelling version was based upon is now a permanent fixture at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria. The exhibit won the annual American Alliance of Museums Excellence in Exhibition Competition in 2015, selected over many of the world’s most innovative and progressive museum offerings.
Our Living Languages arrived on Salt Spring Island after its time at the White Rock Museum ended, and opened to the public Aug. 29. It will welcome visitors at the library here until Oct. 28.
Linnell and Werner said while there would be several school and home-school groups booking times to enjoy the exhibition in the coming months, exhibit hours will be 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays.
For information, visit saltspring.bc.libraries.coop/our-living-languages.