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| Happy Columbus Day, Carney mixed media on blanket, 67" × 91" |
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Excerpt from Exhibition Catalogue
Indigena: Contemporary Native Perspectives
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, QC, 1992
Bob Boyer's Statement
My statement is basically "it stinks." Anything after this will only serve to rationalize and water-down my statement. I have, however, been asked for five hundred words. I wonder at this moment if the curators have some ulterior motive for that number such as one word for each year since Columbus came to the Americas. Think about if for now!
I do not believe for one moment that Columbus was the first non-Indian to visit the Americas. I believe that there is much evidence to show visits by Vikings, Pheonicians, Japanese and there may be evidence of other visitors. There is no evidence, however, of these cultures laying claim to these lands. They may have stayed, intermarried, and so on but certainly they did not take over the lands and assume power and control over the various cultures here previously. Apparently the cultures and infrastructures were left intact with some understanding of their sovereign rights. What then is the reason for this great veneration of Columbus?
The way I see it, Columbus was nothing more than a bumbling Watkin's man who knew little or nothing of the sailing business. How he managed to dupe Ferdinand and Isabella out of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria has been a puzzle to me since I was a kid and first heard of him. The fact that he managed to hack out a governorship over this land under the guise of finding a new route to Japan, then refusing to his death to admit his error reads like some modern-day soap opera. It is all very funny and entertaining to me, but in my opinion, it does not justify the stature Columbus has as a modern-day Odysseus or saint. Perhaps he is emblematic of some European spirit? The Renaissance, the rebirth of knowledge, the age of Enlightenment seems to culminate in the travels of Marco Polo and Columbus. What is it that gives him this stature? I cannot ask this of myself enough in order to understand it. I cannot understand it.
Since this hero of European self-worship has come to America, this land has been visited by plagues, famine, and pollution. What was once a beautifully natural expression of the Creator's design has become a scorched and blemished shadow fo its old self. The first peoples of these continents have been forced into a position of second-class citizens. Things seem awfully topsy-turvy. It is awfully confusing and demoralizing. If Columbus had been killed and never gone to Europe - what then?
I guess I should finish this esay of five hundred and one words on a note of optimism. Perhaps after five hundred years, things will change. Perhaps all treaties will be honoured, the Haida will keep their trees, and the Ontario Anishabe will be able to eat fish free of mercury poisoning. Do you ever wonder why Canadians of European descent are now so set against the immigration of other displaced peoples?
— Bob Boyer