Weaving Exhibit Intersection of Art, Culture

by Sue Malesevic
For The Post

The bright colors against the brown background offer a unique beauty. The colors in the four rectilinear shapes on each side represent the sky at different times of day and night: white is dawn, blue is midday, yellow is sunset and black is night. Sky people, who are the personification of the spirits, dot the sides.

This is a sandpainting weaving titled "The Skies' from Shooting Way Chant," one of many on display at the Kennedy Museum of Art.

The collection, titled Hosteen Klah, Nadle Hatali: Gender, Transformation, and Navajo Weaving, offers a perspective about gender and insight into Navajo culture.

Hosteen Klah/Nadle Hatali was one of the first to transcribe sandpainting through weaving. The sandpainting is part of ceremonies called "chants," "sings" or "ways." These ceremonies are believed to have healing powers.

Born in 1867, Klah was biologically born a male, but was considered a nadle — "one who is transformed." Klah was a weaver, which is traditionally a female occupation, and a hatali (chanter), which is normally a male occupation.

Determining gender in Navajo society is not limited to biological sex. Other characteristics such as occupation, demeanor and dress are more important for the definition.

This cultural difference was part of the reason the guest curators, Women Studies Interim Associate Director Jennifer McLerran and Associate School of Art Professor Thomas Patin, wanted to host an exhibit highlighting Klah's weaving.

"I think it is important because it denaturalizes gender distinctions," McLerran said.

Graduate art student Ali Minni said she thought the exhibit was interesting.

"I think it is really great that we have a show that address gender issues," Minni said.

McLerran and Patin also wanted to pay homage to Klah.

Klah's work and dialogues with anthropologists fostered a better understanding of Navajo culture and paved the way for others to sandpaint weave.

Sandpaintings are considered so powerful in Navajo culture, that to make a permanent representation of it was taboo. Klah broke that taboo.

The Navajo Nation requests that the weavings not be displayed, but there are educational benefits to the exhibit, Patin said.

Athens resident Aaron Smith, an artist who also works in construction, said he questioned the display but found the symbolism and history of the weavings interesting.

Hosteen Klah, Nadle Hatali: Gender, Transformation, and Navajo Weaving is free. It runs through April at the Kennedy Museum of Art, Lin Hall, The Ridges.