Weaving Between the Lines

An exhibition explores the correlations between Diné textiles and photography, and the insights they provide into the Navajo homeland and the American Southwest.

In an unexpected juxtaposition, the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (MIAC) presents Horizons: Weaving Between the Lines with Diné Textiles, an exhibition that explores the connections between weaving and photography as modes of engagement with place in the American Southwest.

By situating these two media in conversation, and thinking of the horizon as both a point of connection—between sky and earth—and a line of separation, the exhibition examines each as a way of seeing and knowing Dinétah, the Navajo homeland.

Artist once known (Diné), Women’s Shoulder Blanket, ca. 1860-1890. Handspun wool, vegetal dye, indigo dye, aniline dye, sinew and plant matter. Gift of Mrs. Philip B. Stewart. Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, 9100/12.

“As Horizons took shape, we began to have conversations about land, space and light,” says Dr. Hadley Jensen, co-curator of the exhibit with Rapheal Begay (Diné) in collaboration with an advisory committee of Diné artists, educators, and scholars Lynda Teller Pete, Kevin Aspaas, Larissa Nez, Tyrrell Tapaha and Darby Raymond-Overstreet.

“We became interested in creating connections between weaving and photography as different ways of seeing and relating to place. Throughout the exhibition, these media function as an index of place and as a mode of storytelling to establish the connection between art, land and identity.” Horizons: Weaving Between the Lines with Diné Textiles showcases over 30 textiles and related items from MIAC’s extensive collection. Historical and contemporary weavings will be displayed alongside materials, tools, digital prints, photographs and other immersive media.

Rapheal Begay (Diné, b. 1991), Spider Rock (Tséyi’ - Canyon de Chelly, AZ), 2021. Archival inkjet print. Courtesy of the artist.

“Weaving and photography—seen as both process and product—express the reciprocal relationships that guide Diné cultural practices, values and lifeways,” continues Jensen. “By placing these two media in conversation, we aim to provide cultural context for the textiles on view while also highlighting how each expresses an ongoing connection to place. This connection is both conceptual and material—it is made evident through the localized and land-based knowledge systems embedded in Navajo weaving and through the representational qualities of photography.”

For instance, the textile Wearing Blanket with Spider Design references Navajo cosmologies and creation narratives, specifically the story of Spider Woman who gifted the knowledge of weaving to the Diné. It will hang in dialogue with Spider Rock, a photograph of the mythological home of Spider Woman in Canyon de Chelly National Monument taken by co-curator Rapheal Begay.

Darby Raymond-Overstreet (Diné), Woven Landscape-Monument Valley, digital print. Courtesy of the artist.

“The representational elements in this [textile] convey the ongoing connection to these origin stories, which are intertwined with culturally specific understandings of place,” says Jensen. “It also speaks to the intergenerational transmission of weaving knowledge, songs and stories, which have given meaning and value to Navajo weaving over time.”

Through five key themes, the cultural items and artworks on view tell multiple stories with the aim to highlight Diné weaving and photography as place-based visual forms of storytelling and how people engage with the landscape, specifically the Navajo homeland, through making art.

Artist once known (Diné), Wearing Blanket with Spider Design, 1860-1880. Handspun wool, commercial wool yarn, indigo dye, vegetal dye. Gift of Mrs. Philip B. Stewart, Courtesy of John and Linda Comstock and the Abigail Van Vleck Charitable Trust. Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, 9124/12.

“In bringing textiles from MIAC’s collection out of storage and placing them in dialogue with contemporary works, Horizons will also provide an opportunity for Diné communities to reconnect with this collection,” says Jensen. “In doing so, we aim to emphasize how creative exchange is visible in historical textiles but also resonates through contemporary art.”

Through July 16, 2024
Horizons: Weaving Between the Lines with Diné Textiles
Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, 710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(505) 476-1269, www.indianartsandculture.org