2025 Michigan Museum Association Conference
Examining Tribal Food Sovereignty Through 19th Century Landscape Painting
Sirianna Blanck, University of Michigan

Sirianna Blanck (UM'26: Program in the Environment, German, & Museum Studies) presented at the 2025 Michigan Museum Association conference in Lansing. Drawn from a WN25 course assignment working with Prof. Rebecca Zurier, Sirianna shared a proposal for the rehang of UMMA's "Unsettling Histories" exhibit. Using Salmon, a major cultural, culinary, economic, and religious emblem for Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest, Sirianna connected the destruction of the natural environment with the violation of tribal fishing rights in the Columbia River Gorge using the John Mix Stanley landscape painting, Mount Hood from the Dalles (1871). This unique curation strategy aims to help teach museum visitors about the interconnectedness of indigenous sovereignty, sustainability, and colonialism through the visual motifs of fishing.