Story:

This is a beautiful object. It reminds me of the style of jewellery my tribe wears, but this looks very modern and rather cheap. One would have this as a replica – not a cool one. It should be silver – dark silver. 

This object is a very recent acquisition. I was in Berlin, finally able to screen my film, called Trans-Indigenous Assembly, which I have been editing for the past six years. Many people are connected to this film. During this film presentation, one girl came to me and she said “Do you know about our tribe? We are next to your tribe”. This is in the Russian Federation. “We are Chuvash. Do you know us? Are we somebody for you?”. This is about the colonial struggle against the Russian Federation that we all have. It was the first time in my life that I met a person from this Chuvash tribe. 

So, I told her, “Yes, we know you, because you guys send us telegrams every time for the Year of the Marys.” We have the Year of the Marys. As a child I’ve been visiting this celebration every year. There were telegrams of these Chuvas people, whoever they were, and for us it was very important to receive telegrams from other indigenous tribes… like saying, “We do exist”. For us, to exist was important, to have other tribes who understand we exist was important. It was… existential for us. 

Now, 45 years later, this lady comes to me and gives me this jewellery. She is making this as a replica of her own culture. So, it’s similar to their tribal jewelry and it’s supposed to look like this. She uses very special materials. 

It was a very special moment for me to understand how much is now embodied in this jewellery.

– Julia