The Relational Museum and its Objects

Reconnecting Indigenous Australian communities with ethnographic collections is central to contemporarymuseum practice. Yet, the historical dispersal of objects across museums, nationally and internationally, makesrelationship and reconnection a challenge to communities and museums alike. This partnership between the ANU,the NMA and British Museum, in collaboration Indigenous communities and regional museums in the UK andAustralia, aims to develop and pilot approaches that facilitate Indigenous peoples access to and engagementswith distributed collections and objects. By doing so, the project seeks to contribute to new theory around therelational museum, and new modelling of museum practice and museum development in Australia.