The Making of Who We Are, Now Showing at the NMAI Lelawi Theater

Who We Are is among the exhibitions that premiered in September 2004 during the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian in the U.S. capital. It is a multimedia-formatted film being shown in the distinctive circular Lelawi Theater located on the fourth floor in the museum. "Lelawi" is a Lenape (Delaware) word for "in the middle," an appropriate name for the gathering space, as the film is an introduction for museum visitors to visually tour Native America and her people in the twenty-first century.¹

This essay will recall my participation as associate producer for Who We Are, provide some context for many of the decisions that were made in producing the film, and take some of the responsibility for film's errors and omissions.² By the time I joined the project several decisions had already been made by NMAI executive and curatorial staff, who from what I could sense had worked directly with contract museum exhibition designers regarding the plans for a stylized theater in which to showcase a short film about Native America. The idea of preparing museum visitors is not new; however, Who We Are was designed to be shown as a multi-sensory experience that incorporates a variety of surfaces upon which images are projected and other features such as the circular space with a domed ceiling and object cases that highlight the museum's collections are placed right in the seating area. The major decisions regarding the film's length—under ten minutes—and the general themes concerning Indigenous peoples' ties with their land, language, religion, traditional subsistence, and self-expression were in place prior to my joining the project. The NMAI had a very clear line of exhibition authority, led by Jim Volkert, who had a key role in all early museum exhibition decisions but in 2001 stepped down from that position to take on other NMAI duties and was replaced by his deputy assistant, Karen Fort. All final approvals for each exhibition always came directly from Rick West, NMAI director.

The NMAI staff remained directly involved in the project throughout, which in the end significantly reduced any hiccups that could have occurred. There were scores of teleconferences about the project between Washington DC and New York and New Mexico, where I am based. These exchanges, along with massive amounts of email, facilitated this project being completed by committee. Not having worked on such a large scale project, it was not as daunting a task as one would think since everyone involved was working toward the goal of seeing the National Museum of the American Indian become a reality. It was a bureaucratic process, but owing to my contract being with Batwin and Robin as a creative specialist and bridge with the Native community, I saw my role was not as the museum's representative but as the peoples' advocate.

In all honesty I think the various intended outcomes for the multi-media film—to "introduce," "orient," "sensitize," "gather diverse people together to hear and see modern Native people express themselves," "provide a base from which visitors could experience the reality of Native America"—were surpassed. The production is not perfect, nor is the theater viewing space perfect—depending on where one is seated, he or she may miss seeing all the action going on above and around the room when the object cases light up. The production is far too short, and there is so little time, practically no time, to absorb the mechanics of what we the filmmakers tried to envision and expose audiences to given the brevity of the stories featured. What one will experience watching Who We Are is a feeling of hope and celebration that Indigenous America is not dead but very much alive in the land. Her people, in spite of all attempts to denude us...