THIS show may sound like it's more of ethnographical, or anthropological, interest rather than art per se. But the bona fide content makes it a must see and a refreshing change. After all, isn't everything, boorishly, style over content these days?

Indeed, it ought not to be our concern to weigh up the relative merits of memorabilia versus artefacts versus objets d'art. Whatever umbrella term you use, the fact remains that the photographs, other material items, plus narrative accounts of what is the not too distant past all conjure with an underlying idea.

That idea regards America's manipulation of nostalgia to commercial and cultural ends. Did you know, for instance, that the first re-enactment of Custer's Battle of the Little Bighorn, 1876, was theatrically presented just one year after the actual event using Indians who'd fought in the real thing. Put that in your peace pipe and smoke it.

Of course, such things are part of a much bigger story concerning five key letters: P.O.W.E.R. But, suffice to say, a stroll round here does hint at the undoubted myth-making that 'the white man' indulged in, in order to justify his actions.

In other words, what I'm suggesting is that there is something undeniably sad about this show, just as we marvel at it. The man himself, Sitting Bull, had to seek special dispensation to come over here, but come he did as part of the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show. A true tale.

If only the true story of the 12 million or so indigenous, i.e. Native American, peoples and their complex civilisations, was retold more frequently.

The day Sitting Bull came to Salford is at Salford Museum and Art Gallery, until Sunday November 17.

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