Exhibit Introduction
Clothing has very clear distinctions from other forms of art and performance. While paintings, drawings, and architecture generally sit in a fixed place, clothing travels with people. From head to toe, hats, shirts, shoes, and other wearable art all serve as extensions of the individual and expressions of the way a person contextualizes himself in the world. Looking at an individual’s wardrobe can help indicate his different daily activities, his career, his spiritual ideas, and the climate of where he lives. For example, if someone rides a bike on a daily basis, his wardrobe might include a helmet and some bicycle shorts. If he attends church every week, he would need something nicer than just jeans and t-shirts. If he serves in the military, his closet would feature specific uniforms for that profession. Likewise, someone living in a cold climate like that of Alaska would need clothing with many more layers than someone living in a warm climate like Arizona. Clothing, therefore, has utility and its makers use certain materials or styles in anticipation of the wearer’s personal needs.
The “What We Wear” exhibit explores Native American clothing and wearable art since the late 1800s. The display tells a story about the changes that have taken place within Native fashion, while also identifying and exploring the numerous consistent elements between past and present wearable art.
Titled “Traditional Clothing,” the first section of the exhibit features two dresses and one coat from the Great Plains region. Though these three pieces come from the same general area, each artist employed different materials, colors, and techniques to create them. The Sioux woman’s dress, for example, features American flags sewn into animal hide to show identification with American patriotism, while the Sihasapa Lakota dress features images painted onto cloth that celebrate a man’s achievements in battle. Meanwhile, the Otoe coat celebrates the interaction between man and animal with elegant bead designs. Viewers will also find a pair of moccasins from the Sioux and a headdress made by a Tsimshian Native in this section. The moccasins were made as comfortable status symbols, while the Tsimshian headdress, intricately designed specifically for the Eagle Dance, has spiritual significance. This latter piece, more than any other in the exhibit, indicates the importance of animals in many Natives’ spiritual interpretations of the world. As a collective group, the pieces in the “Traditional Clothing” section show the tremendous variety of artistic styles, materials, and priorities of Native groups in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The “Contemporary Fashion” section focuses on the elegant and sophisticated jackets of Betty David of the Spokane Indian Tribe. The artist created all three of the selected designer jackets for public sale, and used expensive materials to give a premium feel to each one. This section of the exhibit demonstrates the ways that contemporary Native artists have adopted traditional styles while maintaining their relevance and cultural value. The “Ice Jacket” and lighter “Ghost” jacket, for example, use contemporary, high quality materials like white leather and ticking fabric, respectively, but adopt the historical formline style of Northwest Coast Natives. Used on totem poles, chests, masks, blankets, and—less frequently—clothing, the formline style celebrates animals through careful symmetry and patterns. The “Cheyenne Jacket,” meanwhile, features a fairly plain design, but shows cultural continuity with historical Great Plains clothing by using buckskin and beads.
The third and final section of the exhibit, titled “Clothing of Protest,” looks at the different wearable expressions of Native cultural and political sovereignty in the face of detractors. “Clothing of Protest” has not been separated from “Contemporary Fashion” as a way of contesting the value or meaning of protest clothing. Rather, “Contemporary Fashion” includes recent Native clothing whose artist primarily focused on maintaining historical styles, while applying newer materials or fashions in inventive ways. “Clothing of Protest,” on the other hand, features recent Native clothing that makes an explicit or apparent statement about cultural and political sovereignty in the context of the contemporary world. The pieces in the exhibit’s last section look at the historical Native interactions and experiences with non-Native people, as well as how some non-Natives have inaccurately portrayed Natives. “Beaded Native Muscle Man Hat” asserts the strength of Native Americans, in spite of mistreatment by European settlers and the US government. Likewise, “Ceci N’est Pas Un Conciliateur” memorializes the Great Sioux War of 1876, and argues against the use of violence to violate Native sovereignty. It also references René Magritte’s “The Treachery of Images,” making it an excellent example of some Natives’ artistic interactions with the works of non-Native artists. Meanwhile, “Hipsters in Headdresses” and “Mis-Rep Tee” both point out the ways in which non-Natives have inaccurately portrayed Natives and profited from these depictions. The pieces in this section of the exhibit use satire and wit, and make obvious arguments in favor of social justice. Taken together, the three sections of “What We Wear” give viewers a significant and diverse look into the ever-developing fashions and art of Native Americans.