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Art History Prof. Ruth Phillips Receives CMA Lifetime Achievement Award

Professor of Art History, Ruth Phillips has been awarded the coveted American Anthropological Association – .

In the citation, the CMA recognized the impact of Phillips’s work in the field of museum anthropology, her “vision to create infrastructures…that connect people, artifacts and knowledge systems” and her work in mentoring and influencing the careers of students and colleagues.

Cross-appointed with the PhD program in Cultural Mediations in the , Prof. Phillips finds herself in familiar territory as the recipient of a prominent honour.

Phillips has held a since 2003. In 2012, her critically acclaimed book, , was shortlisted for the Donner Prize and won the in the non-fiction category. However, for Phillips, this award is a touch different.

“Although I didn’t set out to work in museums, I’ve divided my career between the very separate realms of museums and academia,” explained Phillips. “So, I was surprised and very honoured to receive an award which exclusively credits my museum work.”

Phillips was drawn into the museum world when she was asked to curate the Northeast component of The Spirit Sings: Artistic Traditions of Canada’s First Peoples held at the Glenbow Museum exhibition for the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. The international boycott of the exhibition organized in support of the unresolved Lubicon Cree land claim created a divisive and painful controversy but also led to the formation of a national Task Force on Museums and First Peoples. Phillips’s involvement with the debates, the exhibition and the task force made her aware of the potential of museums to build cross-cultural understanding and further social justice.

“I’ve always believed you learn more from controversy than smooth sailing. This was a period of enormous learning for me, and for many others in the museum world. It led, ultimately, to much more ethical and effective ways to work with culturally diverse communities.”

This knowledge was put to the test during her term as director of the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology. She remembers the exhibition she and the staff organized there in 2001 “The Spirit of Islam: Understanding Islam through Calligraphy” as one of the high points of her career.

The exhibition was planned years before the World Trade Centre attacks of September 11, 2001, but it opened a month later during a period when Muslims in the B.C. Lower Mainland felt very vulnerable. Overcoming these ominous circumstances, the exhibition was a stunning success and delivered a potent and positive message at a time when it was most needed. For Phillips, this was a bright light in her ongoing illustrious career.

“The ‘Spirit of Islam’ confirmed my belief in the power of museums to make a difference in society and to bring people together to correct misunderstandings, even under such terrible odds,” said Phillips.

Phillips’ contribution to the world of museums is multidimensional and has focused, in recent years, on the mobilization of digital technologies to provide access to Indigenous heritage scattered around the globe and to allow researchers to collaborate in virtual space. The CMA award recognizes her role in conceptualizing the UBC Museum of Anthropology’s Reciprocal Research Network and the digital database of the ), an organization she founded at �Ӱ�ԭ�� in 2005. Through GRASAC, Phillips and her colleagues have brought together researchers in Aboriginal communities, museums, and other universities around the world.

“I’ve always hoped to foster open access to museum collections, most of which were amassed during the colonial era. Democratizing access, especially for members of originating communities, is a contribution to decolonization.”

“Such projects can also help to fulfill some of the recommendations for cultural renewal in the Truth and Reconciliation report. Museums can be key partners in reaching this end, and Canadian museums are well positioned to be world leaders” she stressed.

Although working in the world of museums wasn’t a piece in her original career playbook, Phillips is grateful that curating and museum-based research became a significant part of her life.

“I love working in museums. In academia, you’re working from a distance, but in curating, there is a sense of closeness to the physical traces left to us by past lives and historical processes. I find this material connection deeply satisfying,” said Phillips. “and when it can be combined with projects that work toward social justice museum-based research becomes tremendously fulfilling. For me, there’s the activist side and the more personal and intimate side. I love them both.”

When one receives a lifetime achievement award, a natural response is to take pause and reflect. Phillips has certainly done this, but the award has also brought on the opposite – to think about the future of museum and curating work.

“For years I’ve seen digital media as having great potential to make museums even more accessible. We did this successfully at the Museum of Anthropology and we are currently trying to implement a digital strategy with GRASAC.”

“As we move towards this digitization, we need to continue in the spirit of partnership and collaborations with the relevant people, communities and organizations.”

In many ways, this spirit of collaboration is symbolic of Prof. Phillips curating career.

“Everything I’ve achieved to date has been with the help of other people. All of it has been through teamwork,” she said.

CMA is an all-volunteer membership organization that serves anthropologists and museum professionals. The Council for Museum Anthropology is a section of the American Anthropological Association. CMA’s mission is to foster the development of anthropology in the context of museums and related institutions.