Yukon graduation regalia showcased in London

For a minute, Lisa Dewhurst forgot where she was. The Yukon curator was setting up a show of Yukon First Nations graduation regalia in June when she stopped, looked around, and reminded herself—you are actually setting this up in London, England!

Dewhurst had curated and shown the Honouring Our Future: Yukon First Nations Graduation Regalia exhibit across the Yukon already, including at Da Ku Cultural Centre in Haines Junction; Haa Shagóon Hídi in Carcross; Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre in Dawson City; the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse; and the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre in Teslin.

A private viewing of First Nations clothing from the late 19th Century at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England. Mike Thomas photo.

It was easy, unpacking the deer hide dresses, the button blankets, the moccasins, and the meticulously-beaded vests, to get caught up in the details of the work and forget that she was prepping the show for its first international opening at Canada House.

“I’m so pleased that all of the visitors of Canada House can see this,” Dewhurst said in early July, weeks after the show opened at the gallery, located in the City of Westminster.

The opening was the culmination of a week-long delegation to England that included cultural presentations, meetings with Yukon First Nations leaders, and beading workshops led by Vuntut Gwich’in elder, Shirlee Frost.

Honouring Our Future: Yukon First Nations Graduation exhibit in London, England. Mike Thomas photo.

Dewhurst was delighted to see participants from the beading workshop arrive at the opening of Honouring Our Future wearing the beaded pins they’d made with Frost (“People were so engrossed in the process and super excited to learn … they realized the magnitude of work it takes to bead even one flower, even just one petal,” says Dewhurst).

The workshops were held at the Pitt Rivers Museum, where there was also a private viewing of 19th century First Nations textiles.

Dewhurst, who is of the Nlaka’pamux Nation of Merritt, B.C., lives in Teslin. There, she has been adopted into the Kukhittan Clan of the Teslin Tlingit (Raven Children) and has been given the Tlingit name of Keis.ey, which refers to the time just before the dawn breaks.

I like to think that we are making steps in the right direction as an institution but appreciate that the museum can still be a very uncomfortable and confronting place. We still have much decolonisation work to do.”

Bryony Smerdon, assistant curator for Pitt Rivers Museum.

Lenita Alatini and Kailen Gingell visit the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England. Mike Thomas photo.

She, along with Frost, two Yukon First Nations youth, and Mary Bradshaw (director of visual arts at the Yukon Arts Centre) viewed the pieces and advised museum staff on handling them.

Staff also shared that the museum has a repatriation process, and that staff would be happy to support Yukon First Nations leaders in beginning it if they wished to bring some artifacts back to the North.

“Staff there were just excellent,” said Dewhurst. “So kind and forthright.”

When the delegation arrived at the museum, Dewhurst says staff apologized for how colonial some of the exhibits would be (it’s something they’re working to address). Dewhurst said she noticed that individual pieces were displayed in glass cases and grouped by category (masks here, hats there, etc.) rather than by geography, nation, or country. Labelling typically included materials and a description of the item. Sometimes there were dates. But one display stood out to her for bucking that trend.

A traditional beading workshop by Lisa Dewhurst at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England. Mike Thomas photo.

Lenita Alatini, Kailen Gingell and Shirlee Frost during the media tour of the exhibit at Canada House in London, England. Mike Thomas photo.

Vuntut Gwichin elder Shirlee Frost and YAC director of visual arts Mary Bradshaw visit the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England. Mike Thomas photo.

It’s a great exhibition to illustrate the care, attention, love and support that exists in communities for their youth.”

Lisa Dewhurst, curator

“As I was going through the museum, I noticed a small pair of boys pants and they were probably made for about a four-year-old,” says Dewhurst. “And the label really caught my eye because it said ‘young boys’ pants’ and it said ‘beautifully decorated pieces of clothing were often made for children as an act of love by their parents or family’ … to me, that was beautiful, attaching some humanity.”

To Dewhurst, that small but significant addition was what allowed the exhibit to do what any exhibit should do—tell a story rather than coldly labelling an artifact as simply an item.

“It warmed my heart in this middle of this very colonial atmosphere that I had been immersed in within the museum,” says Dewhurst. At the time, she wove the story into her opening remarks and told Pitt Rivers staff that the pants had shown a window into their process.

Traditional dancing during the opening reception at Canada House in London, England. Mike Thomas photo.

Dewhurst said it was a nice symmetry with Honouring Our Future, which includes a written backstory on each of the 16 pieces in the show, along with video interviews of nine of the graduates and scenes from the 2024 graduation ceremony.

“We hugely appreciated the opportunity to have open and frank discussions with (the group) about the displays, cultural care, and community access, as well as the guidance offered during the creative workshop,” said Bryony Smerdon, assistant curator for Pitt Rivers Museum.

“I like to think that we are making steps in the right direction as an institution but appreciate that the museum can still be a very uncomfortable and confronting place,” she added “We still have much decolonisation work to do.”
Visitors asked meaningful questions, Dewhurst said, about how certain beadwork represented certain areas, and how families decide what to include on regalia.

It’s a great exhibition to illustrate the care, attention, love and support that exists in communities for their youth, she said.

The exhibit, a partnership between YAC and Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, runs until September 21, 2024 at Canada House.