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From The Collection Kitsilano

FROM THE COLLECTION // The Museum of Vancouver’s 1930’s Ouiji Board

Portrait

FROM THE COLLECTION aims to introduce readers to the inventories of local art galleries, museums and other cultural institutions, not via official exhibition notes but by way of the people that help manage and maintain the collections themselves.

“Some days, while working alone in the dark recesses of collections storage, I struggle to rein in my imagination…”

For this edition From The Collection, we asked the Acting Curator of the Museum of Vancouver, Jillian Povarchook, to share a museum piece that really spoke to her. Being that we are just around the corner from Halloween, she snuck into a dark corner of the museum and returned with something creepy, an old ouija board.

Jillian explains: “Ouija boards are almost banal in their ubiquity, but there is a small part of me that remains uneasy in the presence of this graphically striking wood board from the 1930s. There are so many lives and stories represented in the collection of nearly 80,000 objects and belongings at MOV. Some days, while working alone in the dark recesses of collections storage, I struggle to rein in my imagination, picturing the ouija board summoning them on its own. It’s a very simple testament to the power of objects in our lives.”

Directions
Museum of Vancouver
Neighbourhood: Kitsilano
100 Chestnut St, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9
604-736-4431
WEBSITE

There is 1 comment

  1. Beautiful photo. I’d really love to visit the museum one day, but 11,000 km is a long walk.

    There is more information about the Ouija?

    Greetings from Buenos Aires.

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