"This hide painting is for guiding the escape of Indigenous remains and objects in non- Indigenous institutions to their home communities. Entitled, Architecture of return, escape, it depicts a floor plan referencing a visitor’s guide as well as blue architectural blueprints, of The British Museum in London. Of the few objects held in display cases, many more (including human remains and ceremonial objects not intended for public view) are held in museum archives. The cost and processes required for Indigenous communities to travel and visit these archives limits access to cultural knowledge and inheritance and continues the removal of the objects from their land and people.

While institutions control the environmental conditions, they are unable to adequately care for these objects in cultural or spiritual ways. The objects themselves are unwilling visitors to the museum, and the work builds an escape route and a vision for reunification of cultural inheritance with community. The series serves as a reminder of the past, and as a plan for a good way forward. Stolen objects, human remains, and works sold under duress can now return home for their own health, for the health of the communities that created them, and for the health of the communities that took them."

— Nicholas Galanin on Architecture of return, escape