Christie’s Comes Under Fire For Taíno Auction Claiming Members Are ‘Extinct’
Image via Christie’s
Activists are protesting the sale of Pre-Columbian art and Taíno “artifacts,” set to take place at the Christie’s auction house in Paris this week. The sale is poised to include 38 artworks from the Fiore Arts Collection of Taíno art, such as ritual spatulas made of manatee bones, and ornaments made out of shell or terra cotta.
Stephanie Sherman, a member of the Arayeke Yukayek, a Taíno tribe, started an online petition to stop the sale from taking place. Currently, it has gathered over 35,000 signatures. She explained: “We hope that people can realize they can make a stance against these auctions. We hope places that sell such artifacts like Christie’s feel the pressure.”
“These aren’t just cultural heritage. In the auction are cemi [idols], which we believe are spiritual beings that need to be fed, honored, and housed. We believe some of our powers are with them—we bury our dead with them. They all have immense cultural and sacred powers to us. They’re not just inanimate objects,” Sherman said.
According to The Art Newspaper, Sherman had found out about the auction through TikTok, on which Christie’s had been promoting the sale. In the video, which has now been deleted, an expert described the Taíno being extinct.
An earlier version of the auction house’s promotional material, which has since been edited, stated that the Taíno tribe “had their apogee between AD1200 and 1500, only to be swept out of existence few decades after Christopher Columbus’s arrival in Hispaniola.”
She felt the language use, hinting that the Taíno tribe was a long-forgotten, wiped-out race, was disingenuous, and “whether intentionally or not, to drive up prices and fill their pockets.” The artworks listed for sale are expected to go for between US$5,000 and US$200,000.
“Using terms like ‘artifacts’ and ‘extinct’ increases an object’s value, but we’re out here, I’m here. We’re not extinct,” concurred Stephanie Bailey, a chief of the Arayeke Yukayek.
As per ARTnews, in a show of solidarity, Taíno activists gathered outside of Christie’s New York to protest the Paris sale. A Taíno medicine man, Sanakori Luis Ramos, even performed a ceremony, which Bailey explained was to ask their ancestors for strength in their stand against the auction.
“Those people will have to walk through us to get to the auction—they’ll see that Taíno are not an artifact. We need to show them that our culture is not just a conversation piece to place on their mantle,” Bailey said.
In response to the backlash, a spokesperson for Christie’s said the auction house understands its “duty [to] carefully research the art and objects we handle and sell.” However, it doesn’t appear that it plans to stop the auction.
“In the case of the upcoming sale, these checks have been carried out and we have no reason to believe the property is from an illicit source or that its sale would be contrary to French law,” said the representative.
[via The Art Newspaper and ARTnews, cover image via Christie’s]
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