Transnational Perspectives on Feminism and Art, 1960-1985

Jen Kennedy, Trista Mallory, Angelique Szymanek, Jen Kennedy, Trista E. Mallory, Angelique Szymanek

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000380958
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Histoire de l'art

Transnational Perspecives on Feminism and Art, 1960–1985 is a collection of essential essays that bring transnational feminist praxis into conversation with histories of feminist art in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s.

The artistic practices and processes examined within these pages all centre on gender and sexual politics as they variously intersect with race, class, sovereignty, Indigeneity, citizenship, and migration at particular historical moments and within specific geopolitical contexts. The book's central premise is that reconsidering this period from transnational feminist perspectives will enable new thinking about the critical commonalities and differences across heterogeneous and geographically dispersed practices that have contributed to the complex and multifaceted relationship between feminism and art today.

The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, cultural studies, visual culture, material culture, and gender studies.

Part 1

Constructing

1 Reviewing a 1960s Mi'kmaq Ribbon Skirt

Reclamation, Resilience, and Resistance

Lisa Binkley

Introduction

In a 1968 exhibition organised by Citadel Hill National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Dr Margaret Johnson, a member of Eskasoni First Nation, displayed a hand-stitched ribbon skirt as part of an installation featuring cultural dress associated with the province's diverse heritage. The 1856 Stone Fort, first established in 1749 as a strategically positioned British military post, was built overlooking the city in defence of advancing threats from foreign incursions from the Atlantic Ocean and inland from the Mi'kmaq. It is not precisely known if Johnson was commissioned by the Historic Site to make and display this ceremonial dress for this particular exhibition; however, it was accessioned into the permanent collection at Citadel Hill, and was later acquired by the Nova Scotia Museum in 1982. Johnson's ribbon skirt is a form of ceremonial regalia worn by Indigenous women from across Turtle Island that represents matriarchal knowledges regarding femininity, fertility, and equality. Ribbon skirts crafted from manufactured textiles have been made by Indigenous women since the nineteenth century, commonly replacing ceremonial dress previously constructed from animal hide following the extinction of some species, such as buffalo, and the increased availability of cloth. This transition to the use of manufactured cloth in ceremonial regalia coincides with a shift towards aggressive nationalist assimilation policies during the nineteenth century in Canada. The display of Johnson's ribbon skirt at Citadel Hill followed her participation as a basketmaker at three exhibitions celebrating Canada's centennial anniversary in 1967. As an exhibitor, Johnson's status as an Indigenous woman and Elder factored significantly within each exhibition, and her creative productions were purposeful articulations of a matriarchal worldview within a mainstream heteropatriarchal forum.

The exhibitions in which Johnson displayed her work followed a series of Government of Canada inquiries held during the 1960s, a period of intense cultural and social change, situating the artist within a larger sphere of government-driven nationalist objectives. The first two of these inquiries, the Royal Commission on Biculturalism and Bilingualism (1963) and the Hawthorn Report (1966–1967), focused on the state of diverse peoples, reinforcing the idea of Canadian identity within a framework of French and English settler-culture, which consequently added to the further marginalisation of immigrants and Indigenous peoples. A second set of inquiries, the White Paper (1969) and the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (1970), reasserted assimilation processes that sought to fold Indigenous culture into the mainstream, ultimately casting aside any notion of Indigenous matriarchal worldviews. Together, the series of inquiries and the centennial celebrations fostered a form of neo-nationalism, contributing to conflicts within an expanding multicultural society.

Close analysis of Johnson's regalia as material culture and her participation in the centennial celebrations through the lenses of Native Feminist Theories reveals how tension between matriarchal worldviews and heteropatriarchal ideologies fostered momentum for further legal and political action by Indigenous women. Native Feminist Theorists, such as Renya Ramirez, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Eve Tuck, Karyn Recollet, Leanne Simpson, and Leilani Sabzalian, to name only a few, have developed a consciousness of Native feminism through disciplinary lenses such as Feminism, Curriculum Studies, English, and Sociology, complicating our understandings of Indigeneity and gender rights over the past two decades. For the most part, it has been realised that Indigenous women have been mobilised by the challenges with which they are confronted, and are empowered by their Native feminism to navigate the dominant environments in which they live.¹ As noted by Eve Tuck and Karyn Recollet, “Heteropatriarchy works to place men at the top of many power structures, but it also works to strictly define what counts as ‘man’ and what counts as ‘woman’”.² As such, an existing dominant worldview denies any existence of an alternative cosmology, especially one that situates women as integral and equal members of society, as is the case in Indigenous societies.

To accomplish a restored matriarchal worldview, Indigenous women have pursued various opportunities to reinterpret and articulate ideas that disrupt heteropatriarchal situations by using appropriate forms of language.³ This concept is explained by Mareike Neuhaus, who outlines the need for “reading strategies that allow us to ground our readings of Indigenous texts in Indigenous discourse traditions but without compromising the important political, historical, social, intellectual, and other contexts from which these texts emerge”.⁴ That is, Neuhaus encourages a renewed understanding of Indigeneity through the use of particular languages that more accurately interpret meaning and intervene in colonial systems and, at the same time, account for any contemporaneous influences that shape understandings. For Johnson, the display of her regalia at Citadel Hill, following her participation in various national centennial celebrations, allowed her to activate her experiences and circumstances as a form of empowerment. Her articulation of Native feminism was followed by the actions of two Tobique First Nations women, Jeannette Lavell and Yvonne Bédard, who appealed to the United Nations after being denied the reinstatement of their Indigenous rights under Section 12(1)(b) of the Indian Act in front of the Supreme Court of Canada. Johnson's contribution to the Citadel Hill exhibition must be seen within the context of neo-national narratives, government-driven enquiries, and emerging Indigenous voices of the 1960s, such as those of Lavell and Bédard. By situating her work in this historical, social, and political context, this chapter contributes to a growing body of Native Feminist Theories and seeks to broaden the understanding of Indigenous women's resilience and resistance.

Ceremonial Dress and Traditional Teachings as Matriarchal Knowledgeways

Dr Margaret “Granny” Johnson's skirt as material culture reflects “the hardships, the struggles, the triumphs, the growth, and humour” of its maker (Fig. 1.1).⁵ To museum visitors, “Dr Granny” was a storyteller, a talented artist, and a leader, who continues to be recognised for her contributions to the Mi'kmaw nation. Above all, she is celebrated for her role in “keeping the Mi'kmaw culture alive by passing on traditions such as language, prayer, dance, song, and Waltes”, an ancient game of numbers.⁶ Moreover, she is remembered as an Elder, who passed on the teachings of her Elders and the women from whom she would have learned as she made her ribbon skirt. Few details exist about the making and circulation of Dr Johnson's ribbon skirt. It is not known, for example, whether she wore the skirt for ceremony before it was installed at Citadel Hill, or if she made it specifically for display as part of the exhibition.⁷ Through her method of making, selection of ribbons, the practice of hand-stitching, and sharing of teachings, Johnson embedded Mi'kmaw matriarchal knowledges through the object, its fibres, and its circulation. The spirit of these knowledges connects her to other women in her community, across Mi'kma'ki and across Turtle Island.

Figure 1.1 Dr Margaret Johnson, ribbon skirt, c. late 1960s to early 1970s, polyester, cotton, beads. Courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum.

Johnson's regalia is part of a cultural legacy and embodies matriarchal Mi'kmaw spirituality and femininity. Before ribbon skirts were made of cloth, and prior to the decimation of the buffalo as well as the introduction of manufactured textiles in the Midwest, ceremonial dress was made from animal hides that were fleshed and tanned, a process that separated fat and fur from skin. Through the making and wearing of ceremonial dress from tanned hide, which was sometimes embellished with shells, feathers, quills, and wampum beads, women connected their spirits to Mother Earth, paying homage to Creator through dance. As part of ceremony, dancers wore regalia that included a fringed edge along the bottom of the skirt that, when worn by a dancer, rubbed along the grass and stimulated regrowth.⁸ Spiritual and traditional knowledges have been passed on from grandmother to mother to daughter and shared between community members through ceremonial dressmaking and wearing, nurturing the vital connections between Indigenous women and matriarchal knowledges. Some of the central teachings of women's regalia and, in particular, ribbon skirts, focus on women's vitality and the importance of biological and reproductive roles.⁹ For example, the skirt's A-line design, which extends from a woman's waist to the area above the ground, shares the same contours and values as a teepee. Both the skirt and the teepee are viewed as spiritual and emphasise the sacredness of the space within their frames.¹⁰ Customarily, skirts are worn “during sweats, fasts, full moon ceremonies, first menstruation rituals, and the coming of age that celebrates women's fertility and the transitions to adulthood”.¹¹ These fundamental values and practices are sustained through traditional teachings and offer guidance and insight to makers as they continue to make skirts for ceremony.

Textiles and Making as Resilience and Reclamation

In addition to the traditional teachings that have continued to be passed on over time, the availability of new fabrics and supplies acquired through trade augmented the meaning embedded in regalia for makers. During the nineteenth century, the introduction of wool cloth and silk ribbons, through global trade routes, replaced hide in the making of regalia. It is unknown precisely when manufactured textiles replaced hide; however, the “first recorded instance of ribbonwork appliqué was on a Menominee wedding dress made in 1802”.¹² Often ceremonial dress was made with woollen stroud cloth and ribbons exchanged through trade posts by French traders as early as the mid-eighteenth century. In a 1761 trade ledger recorded at Fort Michilimackinac, stroud cloth is identified as an item commonly traded for beaver pelts; at the time, two yards of stroud was recorded as equivalent to four beavers.¹³ Originating in Stroud, England, British stroud cloth was recognised for the sophistication of its felting process and thus its warmth, vibrant red or black colours, and the volume in which it was traded between the British and Indigenous peoples. Indigenous textile historian Cory Wilmott argues that British-sourced st...