Exhibition - Voicing Indigenous Artifacts

Voicing Indigenous Artifacts establishes the cultural and historical context for body ornaments that can be viewed as both artifacts and works of art. The exhibition showcases eight spectacular examples of indigenous Amazonian featherwork objects from the Florida Museum of Natural History Amazonian Collection. The exhibition features headdresses, masks, necklaces and other body ornaments constructed from the feathers of nine species of birds and other materials from the rainforest of Brazil. In Amazonian societies, these vibrantly colored ornaments embellish the body and extend the body, defining the “social skin” that endows the individual with a collective identity on multiple levels.

In presenting this selection of objects the exhibition also acknowledges the plight of endangered species used for the production of these objects. Voicing Indigenous ARTifacts seeks to educate audiences about the issues of their appropriate use within indigenous contexts and the problem of illegal exportation.

Sonia Duin, a Ph.D. candidate studying in the UF anthropology department, is the guest curator of the exhibition. Dr. Susan Milbrath, curator of Latin American art and archeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, is the faculty consultant working with Susan Cooksey of the Harn Museum.This exhibition is made possible by the Madelyn M. Lockhardt Endowment for Focus Exhibitions.

Start Date: July 7, 2009
End Date: September 15, 2009

Museum Hour:
Tuesday - Friday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday 1 - 5 p.m.

Location:
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art
Southwest 34th Street and Hull Road
Gainesville, FL 32611

Admission: Free