Waves of Return: Marianas and European Museums

This fundraiser seeks to bolster ongoing efforts to bring CNMI (Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas) cultural icon Auntie Frances M. Sablan and Inetnon Gefpå'go (Guam) to Berlin museums in August. Museums in Berlin hold cultural belongings from across the Marianas archipelago that were taken during the colonial era. During this visit, cultural practitioners and elders will engage first-hand with Marianas collections held in European museums. This visit coincides with a workshop with cultural performing arts program Inetnon Gefpå'go. We hope this intergenerational gathering will broaden future collaborations between Museums and locally-based organizations, practitioners of the Northern Marianas, Guam, and Micronesia. Funds will be used to support Auntie Frances' travel Saipan to Berlin, as well as food and lodging. Help us create a space for community reclamations, as a means of restorative justice and storytelling to heal colonial traumas while connecting our villages to collections that have been withheld from us for too long.