Student Exhibitions
MOA is Canada’s oldest and and largest teaching museum. Each year we welcome students and emerging professionals to the Museum—through various classes, programs and internships—to expand their experience in cultural heritage and museology. Below are the exhibitions and displays created and lead by these students.
The Indigenous Internship Program is a flexible, customized intensive program that provides training opportunities for people working in museums and cultural heritage management or people who would like to do this kind of work.
UBC’s ANTH 431: Museum Practice and Curatorship class, taught at MOA, produces an exhibition in conjuction with MOA staff as a final project. The course focuses on the public interpretation of anthropological concepts and materials utilizing the programs and facilities of the Museum of Anthropology. Follow ANTH 431 on Instagram.
The Objects We Meet and the Stories They Carry
If objects could speak, what stories would they tell? This undergraduate student exhibition brings together 16 different objects in MOA’s collection to answer that very question.
Over the course of eight months, we explored the central theme of storytelling by spending time with objects that resonated with us, searching for associated records, and listening to expert knowledge-holders. Coming Together refers to the breadth of objects we have chosen to display and our experiences with them. Whether through distance, time, or record-keeping, some of the objects have been disconnected from their lives, making their stories challenging to share.
Curators: UBC students of ANTH 431: Museum Practice and Curatorship
Opening Celebrations: Thursday, April 9 at 6:30 pm
Photo credit: Design courtesy of Anth 431
We Come From Great Wealth
Ḵaḵaso’las—Ellen Neel and the Totem Carvers
This undergraduate student exhibition follows the life story, art and legacy of the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw artist Ḵaḵaso’las-Ellen Neel (née Newman). Ḵaḵaso’las-Ellen Neel was an innovative force in the Indigenous art scene who continues to influence Indigenous artists. She was part of a lineage of artists and leaders, which she passed on to her children and grandchildren. As a political leader, advocate and knowledge keeper, she left an impact on the world and the city of Vancouver that can still be seen today. Key to the exhibition is Ḵaḵaso’las, the totem pole that stood in Stanley Park for nearly 50 years and was returned to MOA in September 2024.
Curators: UBC students of ANTH 431: Museum Practice and Curatorship
Dates: May 25 – October 13, 2025
Photo credit: Ellen Neel in studio, circa 1958. Photographer unrecorded.
Stories on the Land: Archeology in the American Southwest
Archeology has served colonial goals by excluding Indigenous people, disregarding their histories and separating them from their ancestors. It has fed outsiders’ fascination and exploitation of their culture and resources for their own benefit. Despite its colonial roots, the field is evolving to better serve Indigenous people.
“The existence of our stories on the land…[and] our ancestral connections between ancient First People and contemporary Indigenous people, are empowering to Indigenous people.” ~ Archeologist Dr. Paulette Steeves (Cree-Métis)
Curator: Hannah Feodorov (Diné: Navajo/Dutch/German), Indigenous Internship Program
Opened Fall 2024
Photo credit: Photo by Kristi Fuoco.
RetroPerspectives: Learning and Teaching at MOA Through Time
This student exhibition features the vibrant history of MOA, which offered the first accredited museum training course in Canada. The exhibition explores the legacy of education at MOA and the numerous student exhibits that have been developed over the decades since 1968.
Curators: UBC students of ANTH 431: Museum Practice and Curatorship
Dates: June 2024 – November 2025