|A-Y-P: Indigenous Voices Reply As Seattle commemorates the
centennial of a world's fair that helped shape the region as it
is today, a new Burke Museum exhibit takes a critical look at
how indigenous peoples were represented at the fair. In 1909,
the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (A-Y-P) celebrated the
explosion of development in Washington State since the 1897
Yukon Gold Rush and showcased the resources of the region.
Nearly four million visitors to the fair were exposed to
representations of indigenous cultures from around the Pacific
in ways that would seem abhorrent in 2009. Organizers of the
A-Y-P did not have the same standards for cross-cultural
understanding that prevail today. Indigenous communities were
culturally exploited for entertainment and to promote Western
capitalism across the Pacific. A-Y-P: Indigenous Voices Reply
juxtaposes historic objects and photographs from the 1909 fair
with contemporary artwork by Native artists to explore how the
representation and understanding of indigenous p