Ecologies of Making: Knowledge and Process in Navajo Weaving

A research symposium in conjunction with the exhibition Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest Shaped by the Loom is the first exhibition to showcase the American Museum of Natural History’s collection of Indigenous textiles from the greater American Southwest. Placing Indigenous aesthetics and ways of knowing at the center of Diné (Navajo) textile production, it highlights the localized and land-based knowledge systems that guide the process behind the finished product. This symposium, organized around the exhibition’s opening, invites audiences into the world of Navajo weaving to hear directly from the artists, cultural practitioners, curators, and scholars whose work has both informed and expanded this collaborative project.