FISHSKINLAB - THE DEEP DIG UPENN MUSEUM

THE DEEP DIG UPENN MUSEUM

Since 2017 I have been collaborating with Native artists across the Arctic from Alaska, Iceland, Scandinavia, Siberia, Northeast China to Hokkaido. They have shared with me their traditional knowledge and ways of interacting with the environment. We have been welcomed by generous and knowledgeable curators at North America, European and Asian museum collections, providing a wealth of environmental, economic, cultural, social and historical information.

In partnership with the Smithsonian Institution’s Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, we present a four-week program exploring the rich cultural heritage and sustainable innovations of Arctic Fashion. Hear from Indigenous artists, scholars, and museum experts as we share how traditional practices connect communities to their environment and inspire contemporary approaches to sustainability.

April 3: Arctic Fashion: Sustainability, Identity, and Healing

Dr. Elisa Palomino PhD and Dr. Stephen Loring share how Indigenous artists from the circumpolar world transformed materials like fur, gut, and fish skin into clothing that embodies beauty, resilience, and cultural heritage. Explore how these traditional practices inspire modern sustainability movements and challenge the environmental impacts of Western fashion.

April 10: Salmon Entanglements: Fish Skin Material Culture

Dr. Elisa Palomino PhD and June Simeonoff Pardue dive into the rich cultural and material connections between wild salmon and Arctic Native societies. Learn how fish skin was used for sustenance, clothing, and spiritual practices, and how Indigenous resilience continues to adapt these traditions amidst environmental and cultural challenges.

April 17: Inuit Clothing Traditions – Regional Innovations

Traveling from Alaska across the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, ancestors of contemporary Inuit settled the North American Arctic. Bernadette Driscoll Engelstad and Bernadette Miqqusaaq Dean highlight the distinct regional forms of Inuit clothing by contrasting the use of maritime resources in the Eastern Arctic and land-based resources.

April 24: Respect for the Animals, Gifts of the Land, Arctic Clothing and Indigenous Knowledge

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian and the Penn Museum hold among the largest and best-documented collections of ethnographic materials from the Arctic regions. This session concludes with a roundtable discussion hosted by Dr. Stephen Loring and William Wierzbowski, exploring the Arctic collections of these two institutions, celebrating the relationship between Arctic Native Peoples and nature.

This Deep Dig course consists of four live virtual classes. Recordings of the live class will be available if you miss a session.

https://www.penn.museum/calendar/442/the-deep-dig