Being human (in Slampy Cree: inninoo) is the title of our next exhibition – start 27. 10. 2023. With the title of the exhibition we want to make clear that there can be no stereotypes, no discrimination, if we consider our counterpart as part of an interaction in which all participants are equal.
In the culture of Nienetwil there are no hierarchies and no valuation between these or those people (or non-humans), because that would not only be inhuman, but also illogical, because who would not screw in a screw with a screwdriver just because it is black or pink?
In our Western societies, we have assumed for two thousand years that we are superior to all other cultures. However, the mere fact that this has long since been scientifically disproved does not change the still vivid contempt we feel towards indigenous peoples in America or Canada, for example.
If someone puts a feather in his hair, we are neither Apache nor do we respect him or his culture. On the contrary, we negate the fact that culture is not simply an externality and that the spirit that exists within a community cannot simply be understood.
With the photographs of Kali Spitzer we radically dismantle the „Indian“ image and leave her and the photographed the freedom to make their own picture and to show it to us as they want. It is up to us whether we want to discard our old ideas or whether we finally want to recognize: it is about people!
