Statue stolen by Mackenzie Art Gallery namesake returned to temple in India
A stolen statue has been returned to a temple in India, 108 years after it was taken by the Mackenzie Art Gallery’s namesake.
The statue is identified as the Hindu Goddess Annapurna. It was taken from a public shrine on the shore of the Ganges River in Varanasi, India in 1913, at the direction of Norman MacKenzie.
MacKenzie died in 1936 and left his art collection, along with the statue, to the University of Saskatchewan.
“He also left them the funds to build a gallery. So, that’s basically how the Mackenzie Art Gallery came to be in the early 1950s,” said Alex King, curator of the U of R President’s Art Collection.
The statue eventually became part of the University of Regina’s collection at the Mackenzie Art Gallery. Then last year, it was discovered in the gallery’s vault by artist Divya Mehra, while she was doing research for an exhibition.
“She came across this idol in our collection and saw that some things were off about it,” said John Hampton, the Mackenzie Art Gallery’s CEO and executive director.
Mehra realized the statue had been mis-categorized and decided to look into it’s origin further.
“In our files, we have these original stories dictated by Norman Mackenzie about how he acquired some of these objects,” said Hampton. “She read those files and found a really disturbing story about him rowing down the Ganges River with his guide and seeing this idol in an active shrine.”
Mehra then alerted U of R and gallery administration to the documentation identifying the statue as an object of culture theft.
“It certainly didn’t take much persuasion for us to make the decision that we wanted to repatriate it,” said King.
The institutions contacted the Indian government, and those involved held a virtual repatriation ceremony last November.
Last week, the statue began the journey from New Delhi to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, India, the same spot where it was taken in 1913.
“Over four days, she slowly travelled to 18 different communities on this beautiful throne and precession,” said Hampton.
The statue arrived at the temple on Monday.
“She’s known as the Queen of Varanasi, so this is a very important idol to that community,” said Hampton.
During the ceremony on Monday, community members reinstalled the sacredness in the idol, before placing it in the newly-installed temple.
“Looking at that footage and how she was received with such love and care, I think it really reinforces why repatriation is so important,” King said.
To honour the fact that the statue has returned home, the gallery is exhibiting Mehra’s 2020 sculpture of a bag of sand, which was purchased at a Hollywood prop store and artificially aged by Mehra. The bag weighs the same amount as the statue, as is intended to take the sculpture’s place in the gallery.
“Anyone familiar with Indiana Jones knows this glorification of this type of tomb raiding activity,” said Hampton. “Divya did an inverse of that: coming in here, taking an object from our collection and replacing it with this bag of sand.”
When the exhibit is not on display, the bag of sand will be placed in the gallery’s vault, in the same drawer where the statue once was.
“That will forever be there as a placeholder to mark that history,” said Hampton.
In light of these events, Hampton said the gallery has been in talks with the U of R to review the full Norman Mackenzie collection for any other works that may be objects of culture theft. Hampton said, while none have been identified at this point, he expects some will be found.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada less than halfway to Afghan resettlement goal one year after Taliban takeover
A year after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, Canada's resettlement efforts have lagged behind official targets and the efforts to help those fleeing the war in Ukraine. More than 17,300 Afghans have arrived in Canada since last August compared to 71,800 Ukrainians who have come to Canada in 2022 alone.

British regulator 1st in world to OK Moderna's updated COVID booster
British drug regulators have become the first in the world to authorize an updated version of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine that aims to protect against the original virus and the omicron variant.
Canada home prices and sales fall again in July
Canada's average resale home price fell 4.5% from a year ago in July and was down 5.4% on the month as buyers continued to sit on the sidelines amid rising borrowing costs.
Anne Heche taken off life support, 9 days after car crash
Anne Heche, the Emmy-winning film and television actor whose dramatic Hollywood rise in the 1990s and accomplished career contrasted with personal chapters of turmoil, died of injuries from a fiery car crash. She was 53.
China announces new drills as U.S. delegation visits Taiwan
China announced more military drills around Taiwan as the self-governing island's president met with members of a new U.S. congressional delegation on Monday, threatening to renew tensions between Beijing and Washington just days after a similar visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered China.
Afghanistan marks 1 year since Taliban seizure as woes mount
The Taliban on Monday marked a year since they seized the Afghan capital of Kabul, a rapid takeover that triggered a hasty escape of the nation's Western-backed leaders and transformed the country.
Iran denies involvement but justifies Salman Rushdie attack
An Iranian government official denied on Monday that Tehran was involved in the assault on author Salman Rushdie, though he justified the stabbing in remarks that represented the Islamic Republic's first public comments on the attack.
About 4,000 beagles destined for drug experiments finding new homes
About 4,000 beagles are looking for homes after animal rescue organizations started removing them from a Virginia facility that bred them to be sold to laboratories for drug experiments.
Brothers dead after SUV crashes into North Carolina restaurant, police say
A sport utility vehicle crashed into a North Carolina fast-food restaurant on Sunday, killing two sibling customers, police said.