Year: circa 1880s
Culture: Diné (Navajo, Southwest US)
Maker: Unknown
Medium: Woven wool tapestry in red, black, and light orange/cream, knotted edges with slight fringing
Title: Men’s Wearing Blanket
With a cross and serrated triangle pattern in red, black, and a creamy orange color, this piece was traditionally worn either around both shoulders or wrapped around the torso with one end draped over the shoulder, these designs often included geometric patterns to manifest the Diné concept of hózhó, harmony and order found through a balance of perceived opposites within the world. The colors were achieved with commercially spin and aniline-dyed yarns supplied to the Diné people after the “Long Walk to Bosque Redondo” decimated their numbers.
Finding information specifically about this sort of clothing was difficult, I ended up taking information from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum where I found the article, the Met’s online collections, and pulling information about the “Long Walk to Bosque Redondo” which was essentially another Trail of Tears that was the deportation and attempting decimation of Diné people. They were forced to walk from their land in current-day Arizona to eastern New Mexico. I was unable to find the Diné word for the wearing blanket, but I chose to use wearing blanket in place of “serape” which is the Spanish word for blanket because even though it is an accepted word for this sort of clothing and pattern, it felt wrong to use. It, similarly, was difficult to choose what to include versus what to not include, because I wanted to honor the history of the clothing, the pattern, the people and include that information, but I also wanted people to be aware of the treatment of the Diné and their forcible removal from their ancestral homelands. I also had to fight the urge to include the history I found about the patterns specifically because I found it interesting, but I was trying to stay close to the word count (that I still went over by a few words). It’s difficult to present history in such a public manner because I want to do the information and the imageries justice and give them the time and attention they deserve, but I also was trying to be concise and straightforward (as most people don’t stand and read a long museum label unless they’re really into the topic or they’re historians/specialists of some kind). I also wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to include the information about the yarn and its dye process because I couldn’t tell if it was supremely important, but after I looked into the Long Walk and found out when it was versus when the garment was created, it felt pertinent to include because it exemplified that the forced relocation of Indigenous people had long-lasting effects past making it to the destination alive and with all of their appendages. It feels like a lot of people perceive the various walks of forced relocation as terrible and damaging within its duration, but forget to talk about the immediate post-life of these events and the generational trauma that the Indigenous groups face in the aftermath.
Image from the Rhode Island School of Design online museum, accession number 45.082
Annemarie– I can tell you put so much care in the attention to detail for crafting an object label for this source. I especially liked your emphasis on the colors of yard used, and the significance of this item within the historical context of the “Long Walk.” Realistically, I’m sure that very little context (if any at all) would be given, but you demonstrate how it is necessary for properly understanding this piece. I also appreciate how you pulled together multiple sources to create this label, as the existing metadata alone was not enough. Your reasoning behind using “wearing blanket” as opposed to “serape” to describe this piece makes sense, and it is important to reflect on how our words matter. It is so easy to replicate the structures of colonialism without even realizing it, so we must all remain cognizant of how our words impact others, both historically and today.
As you describe, it is extremely difficult to make decisions about what to include/exclude from the object label. I didn’t have the chance to discuss the reasoning for the brevity in class, but there is an entire science behind having a concise object label. There is a great book by Beverly Serrell called “Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive Approach” (https://www.amazon.com/Exhibit-Labels-Interpretive-Beverly-Serrell/dp/144224903X) that explains best practices in exhibit/object labels in museum/archival settings. Despite the challenges of being brief, you still crafted a very meaningful label that encapsulated the most important aspects of this wearing blanket alongside its most critical context.