University of Hertfordshire

‘Belonging' (2018) is an audio artwork created as a series of 12 x 10min (approx) podcasts. It was created by editing original interviews that I conducted with indigenous people from across the 'Oceania' region, those who live in the diaspora, away from the countries of their indigeneity. Interviewees answered questions about the word belonging, whether they feel they belong, and about the feelings they have regarding the fact that artefacts from their ancestors are in Europe. These interviews with indigenous people were juxtaposed with interviews conducted with European museum curators of indigenous objects from elsewhere, objects made by indigenous people which were collected and taken to Europe and elsewhere in the world. ‘Belonging’ explored whether objects, in addition to people can be said to belong away from their original contexts, including in Europe, thus framing the question that haunts contemporary ethnographic museums, that is repatriation, in terms of belonging.