Heritage image-making. How digital documentation makes the artefact in ethnographic museum collecting

This article reflects on the relationships between artefacts newly collectedby ethnographic museums and the digital images that illustrate such artefacts inmuseum archives and catalogues. Taking three examples derived from collectingactivities and ethnographic fieldwork in China and Taiwan, the article reflectson the potential of images to not simply “contextualise” artefacts, but to shapethe relationships that are established between museums, the makers of artefacts,and the related source communities. More specifically, through three cases it isdiscussed how images can: 1) come to position makers within a tradition, 2)offer solutions to issues of rights over designs, and 3) link the collected artefactto the land from which materials were gathered. In the concluding discussion,four aspects of “images of collecting” are discussed: their materiality, their role inthe creation of value, risks of misinterpretation, and responsibilities involved inediting and selecting images.