The storyteller plays a vital role in cultural repatriation, translating loss, memory and meaning between affected communities and institutions. As an interpreter of oral histories ceremonial practice, they contextualise cultural objects and human remains not as inert museum or scientific artefacts, but as active carriers of ancestry, identity and spiritual lore. In Elephants & Squirrels (Dir. Gregor Brändli), the storyteller frames why return matters beyond ownership, following Sri Lankan artist Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachchige as she retraces the colonial-era journey of two Swiss men who collected specimens and artefacts, including human remains, from the region taking them back to Europe for ‘scientific research.’ In light of global repatriation battles, we ask what role museums play in their willingness to cede control where ethically required, and explore how museums in the Majority World have led this charge.
