[in]tangible tangles 2021

Digital prints on metallic paper: original photos from he Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian institution, series of 70

 

[In]tangible Tangles (2021) is a series of found images of moccasins from the archives of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s anthropology department. The series began from pandemic scrolling through various museums’ archives, but these specific images grabbed her attention because the shoes are displayed with their soles facing the camera, instead of at an angle to show as much of the shoe as possible. “You really having this feeling there are bodies in them, like they’re lying down,” Myre said.

In addition to the visible wear and tear on the soles, the shoes are also photographed with tags stating their acquisition number and tribal affiliations. Some were acquired as early as the 1860s, while others are newer, having entered the museum’s holdings only a few decades ago. What the photographs don’t show is under what circumstances they were acquired. Many are shoes for children, reminding Myre of residential schools in both the US and Canada, which separated Indigenous children from their parents in order to assimilate them into the culture of their colonizers and have them forgot their cultural traditions and languages. Often, the children were routinely abused; many were killed there.

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