Artists on Death, Mourning, and New Directions

Artists on Death, Mourning, and New Directions: Upcoming Changes in Art of the Americas

During this unprecedented time, as nearly a million people in our country and many more around the world have died from COVID-19, the inevitable question is: how can museums reflect or respond to this moment? The Art of the Americas galleries will continue to celebrate Indigenous American artists and creativity in the past and will incorporate more contemporary Indigenous voices that reflect on our present and tell their stories as we work together to forge a safer, more inclusive future. Our annual gallery rotation, essential to protect perishable items from too much light exposure, offers opportunities to focus on new themes and display pieces from storage. Beginning this March, the Carlos Museum will display fifteen previously unseen pieces from the collections, including ancient Andean "tie-dye" textiles. The galleries also will respond to our current moment, as two new installations will feature contemporary artists and new acquisitions that focus on the present, and the future.

The Guatemalan textile case will feature two textiles made for or in mourning. One is a K'iche' Maya mourning huipil (blouse) from Totonicapan, Guatemala, circa 1935, and the other is a lliklla (woman's mantle) made in mourning by a Quechua woman from the town of Tarabuco, Bolivia, around 1967. While highlighting creativity in the past, this installation also draws attention to our present, particularly to the massive losses of life in the US and Guatemala at this moment, both because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and from the losses of life people have experienced while immigrating to the US, having hoped to seek better lives. Featuring these beautiful textiles made for mourning in the past encourages us to collectively mourn today.

New acquisitions for the Native American gallery follow this theme but look to the future. PostPandemic: Finding a New Direction is a bandolier bag made by contemporary beadwork artist Martha Berry, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Berry, named a Cherokee National Treasure in 2013, has worked to revive Cherokee beadworking and, when possible, uses materials that are period authentic to c.1820, before the Cherokee Nation and other Tribal Nations from our region were forcibly removed to Oklahoma. This bag is not a copy of an older piece but a new design. The central design is a serpent, recalling the Serpent Mound in Ohio and its positioning to align with journeys of the sun as witnessed on solstices and equinoxes. Berry thus looks back to the past to comment on our

above Chase Kahwinhut Earles (American [Caddo]). Snake Bottle 18. Ceramic, 2022.

Photo by Chase Kahwinhut Earles.

left Martha Berry (American [Cherokee]). Post-Pandemic: Finding a New Direction. Glass seed beads, wool stroud, cotton, silk, wool yarn, 2021.

Photo by Dave Berry.