The time has come: the tour on the second floor of the Humboldt Forum has been completed with the opening of the exhibition Ts’uu – Cedar. Of Trees and People. At the opening, the curators Daniela Kratzsch (graduate biologist from Berlin) and Gid yahk’ii Sean Young (cultural anthropologist, head of collection at the Haida Gwaii Museum) will guide visitors through the exhibition, which focuses on the “giant living cedar” (wet red cedar) and the “Nootka false cypress” (yellow cedar). Eight chapters with a total of 130 objects exemplify the relationships between coastal rainforest, First Nations and Euro-Canadians, the effects of colonization and the resurgence of First Nations.
The exhibition, developed in cooperation with the Haida Gwaii Museum in British Columbia, presents tools for working the wood, media installations, cultural-historical and natural history exhibits, and contemporary artworks. Also an integral part of the room are two cedar armorial posts from the holdings of the Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. The diversity of the objects on display and the transdisciplinary approach allow the themes and questions associated with cedar to be negotiated on several levels.
Speaking at the opening:
- Hartmut Dorgerloh, General Director of the Humboldt Forum
- Isabelle Poupart, Chargée d’affairs of the Canadian Embassy in Germany
- Tina Brüderlin, Head of the Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
- Sean Young, Curator of the exhibition, Member of the Haida Nation, Curator at the Haida Gwaii Museum
- Daniela Kratzsch, curator of the exhibition, biologist
In English language
He is a dipolome biologist. She was born in 1969 in Berlin. From 1989 to 1997 she studied Biology with a focus on Neurobiology as well as Philosophy and Fine Arts at the Free University , the Technical University and the University of the Arts (UDK) in Berlin. As a freelancer, she has worked as an exhibition organizer and curator on various exhibition projects since 2001: “Seven Hills – Images and Signs of the 21st Century” (Berlin 2000), permanent exhibition “The Human Adventure” of the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum (Dresden 2004 and 2014), “National Treasures of Germany. From Luther to Bauhaus” (Bonn 2006), permanent exhibition of the Berlin Museum of Natural History (2007), Nature Park Visitor Centre “Barnim Panorama” (Wandlitz 2013)
He is a member of the Haida Nation. He is part of the G̱akyaals ḴiiG̱waay Raven Clan of Ḵ’uuna Llnagaay (Skedans). He is the Manager/Curator of Collections and Lab of Archaeology at Saahlinda Naay “Saving Things House” (Haida Gwaii Museum) at Ḵay Llnagaay. He is an educated and trained field Archaeologist and has worked in this field since the summer of 1995 throughout Haida Gwaii. He also is an instructor and guest lecturer for the Haida Gwaii Institutes Natural Resource Studies and Marine Conservation semester for the past years. Since 2004 he worked for the Haida Gwaii Watchmen Program as a cultural ambassador and caretaker living in ancient Haida villages and cultural sites every summer which are located within Gwaii Haanas Haida Heritage Site National Park Reserve.