Designed to accommodate an impressive magnitude of objects, the drawers in MOA’s Multiversity Galleries are home to some of the smallest, earliest, and certainly most underrated, objects in the Museum’s collections. Housing more than 9,000 objects from around the world for public view, the Multiversity Galleries invite visitors to take a deep dive into collections that would typically be stored behind the scenes due to constraints on exhibition spaces.
Versatile in their ability to safely display a wide range of materials from across the globe, these state-of-the-art drawers are where curation and conservation come together. With a gentle tug on the long metal handles the drawers roll open, revealing cultural belongings from past and present to explore.
The Multiversity Galleries drawers make space for thousands of objects, so it can be easy to feel overwhelmed trying to see them all in one visit. If you’re not sure where to begin in exploring the myriad of works on display, seek out these beautiful textiles.
Wixáritari Textiles
The vivid geometric designs of these textiles were made in the artistic tradition of the Wixáritari (or Huichol) people, who live in the isolated mountains of western Mexico. These intricate textiles are produced by women weavers who receive inspiration for their designs from ancestors who communicate to them in dreams. Imbued with spiritual knowledge, the textiles communicate Wixáritari worldviews and perspectives on nature. The ubiquitous flower motifs embroidered onto the bags, for instance, include arrows representing the four regions of the world—north, east, south and west—where important Wixáritari deities reside. What other shapes and patterns can you find stitched in these works?
In Wixáritari communities, men wear these bags, sometimes carrying several at a time. Wixáritari weavers also produce such bags for the tourist market. Today, the cactus fibre historically used to weave them has largely been replaced by cotton. Synthetic dyes have expanded the colour palette available to weavers. Wixáritari people continue to enact and care for their traditional knowledge systems and cultural practices, stitch by measured stitch.
Find me: Case 093 Drawer 1.