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Cracks in the mask

Follows Torres Strait Islander chief Ephraim Bani as he travels to the museums of Europe to locate artifacts of his ancestors. Includes interviews with three museum curators who discuss the problems of museum collection policy.

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  • ""The mysterious and elaborate turtleshell masks collected last century in Torres Strait in far north Australia are unique and irreplaceable, yet there are now none left in Torres Strait. They are all in foreign museums. Ephraim Bani, a witty and knowledgeable Torres Strait Islander and an expert on his people's myths and legends, sets out on a voyage of discovery to the great museums of Europe where his cultural heritage now lies. The film asks: what happens when he encounters and mediates on his patrimony and secondly, what consequences does this hold for us in the West? Going beyond the overly familiar arguments about pillage and art-theft, three avant-garde curators provide thought-provoking and sometimes surprising challenges to museums in the West and how they reflect our cultural proclivities. The film shows how museums decontextualize cultures--the so-called 'poetics of detachment'--and exclude the very people whose ancestors created the objects in the first place"--Container."
  • "Follows Torres Strait Islander chief Ephraim Bani as he travels to the museums of Europe to locate artifacts of his ancestors. Includes interviews with three museum curators who discuss the problems of museum collection policy."
  • "Follows Torres Strait Islander chief Ephraim Bani as he travels to the museums of Europe to locate artifacts of his ancestors. Includes interviews with three museum curators who discuss the problems of museum collection policy."@en
  • "A century ago the Torres Strait Islands in far North Australia were the famous subjects of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition, yet the resulting depletion of their cultural artifacts left them with nothing but a history of remembered loss. The only people in the pacific to make elaborate tortoise shell masks have none left; they are all in foreign museums. In a quest to reclaim the past, Ephraim Bani, a Torres Strait Islander, travels with his wife to the great museums of Europe where his heritage lies. Ephraim unburdens himsef into his diary in moments of poignant revelation: the artifacts made by his ancestors have undergone a transformation as museum displays; they though it would be easier to talk to curators about the restitution of some objects; to his mind, museums are in competition with each other to own the greatest tresures. As the title suggests, even the thickest cultural masks can crack when the original owner comes to visit."@en
  • "Torres Strait Islander chief Ephraim Bani and his wife Petharie visit museums in England, Scotland, Germany and Switzerland to locate artefacts taken in times past from the Torres Strait Islands and now held in European museums. Features archival material and diary extracts."
  • "A century ago the Torres Strait Islands in far North Australia were the famous subjects of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition, yet the resulting depletion of their cultural artifacts left them with nothing but a history of remembered loss. The only people in the Pacific to make elaborate tortoise shell masks have none left; they are all in foreign museums. In a quest to reclaim the past, Ephraim Bani, a Torres Strait Islander, travels with his wife to the great museums of Europe where his heritage lies. Ephraim unburdens himself into his diary in moments of poignant revelation: the artifacts made by his ancestors have undergone a transformation as museum displays; they thought it would be easier to talk to curators about the restitution of some objects; to his mind, museums are in competition with each other to own the greatest treasures. As the title suggests, even the thickest cultural masks can crack when the original owner comes to visit."

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  • "Interviews"@en
  • "Documentary films"@en
  • "Diaries"
  • "Diaries"@en

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  • "Cracks in the mask"
  • "Cracks in the mask"@en

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