Museum of International Folk Art Digital Direct— To You! As Museum of International Folk Art staff weather the coronavirus pandemic at home, their work on future exhibitions and educational programming continues. Staff are also devising current and creative ways to reach museum-goers digitally, ensuring that you stay close to the museum while staying home. These online offerings include the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs concert series “Our Fair New Mexico,” featuring virtual concerts from such beloved artists as Rob Martinez and Lara Manzanares. The concerts are presented in conjunction with the museum’s Música Buena: Hispano Folk Music of New Mexico exhibition. Visit these resources and stay connected today!
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Wearing Your Purpose The Politics of Dress
Viewing Dressing with Purpose: Belonging and Resistance in Scandinavia, an upcoming Museum of International Folk Art exhibition, may cause visitors to reconsider the seemingly innocuous folk costumes and flower crowns of the 2019 movie drama, Midsommar. The exhibition details the traditional costumes of the Swedish folkdräkt, Norwegian bunad and Sámi gákti—and the various implications that go along with donning these types of clothing. Along with intricate embroidery and fine leatherwork, the wearers of these outfits show off a sense of belonging, a set of values and an allegiance to history. Folk Art Museum textile curator Carrie Hertz explains that two centuries of shifting Scandinavian politics and demographics have shaped not only the development of this dress, but how, where and why it is worn. “It’s a really malleable way of communicating,” Hertz says. “It has been used by all different kinds of people with all different kinds of agendas, from the far right to the far left. You have people battling with each other over what it means.” The traditional garb is rooted in various regional concerns. Beginning in the 19th century, as Swedes worried about the toll of urbanization, industrialization and emigration, preserving certain older styles of dress took on new cultural significance. Meanwhile, Norwegians used Left: Sven Roos in Gagnefsdräkt and Lars-Erik Backman in Leksandsdräkt protecting their fiddles from the rain at Midsummer celebrations in Dalarna province, Sweden. Right: Fatima Aakhus and Randi Myrum in Setesdalsbunader, Norway. Photos by Carrie Hertz, 2015
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