The Development of Indigenous Art and Intellectual Property Rights of Indigenous People in Canada: An Analysis of the National Museum of Ethnology’s Collection of Silkscreen Prints of Canadian Northwest Coast Indians and Prints of Canadian Inuits

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The Development of Indigenous Art and Intellectual Property Rights of Indigenous People in Canada: An Analysis of the National Museum of Ethnology’s Collection of Silkscreen Prints of Canadian Northwest Coast Indians and Prints of Canadian Inuits

The Development of Indigenous Art and Intellectual Property Rights of Indigenous People in Canada: An Analysis of the National Museum of Ethnology’s Collection of Silkscreen Prints of Canadian Northwest Coast Indians and Prints of Canadian Inuits

Joint Research Coordinator　SAITO Reiko

Objectives

This research is to organize and analyze the approximately 700 silkscreen prints of the Northwest Coast Indians and the approximately 300 Inuit prints in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnology and to consider the impact that the introduction and development of this new print technology has had on these two societies. Specifically, we hope to shed light on the following three points.

(1) We want to elucidate the forms and patterns adopted for the silkscreen prints of the Northwest Coast Indians and the prints of the Inuit, as well as the regional distribution of the various art forms and changes to them that have occurred over time.

(2) We will trace the regional distribution of art forms and changes over time, while looking at regional differences attributable to sociocultural changes experienced by the two regional societies during the second half of the 20th century and examining how they experienced interconnected political-economic conditions.

(3) We will examine the relationship between the printing technologies which promoted the copying of motifs and issues of intellectual property rights.