Fernbank Museum of Natural History

Press Release

ATLANTA—A new permanent exhibition opening January 20, 2007, at Fernbank Museum of Natural History takes a closer look at how our culture defines who we are and how the peoples of the world express their culture through the objects they create.

Reflections of Culture draws from Fernbank’s permanent collections, including the Dorothy M. McClatchey Collection. The artifacts in the exhibition showcase the fascinating similarities among cultures throughout the world and the different ways of expressing cultural information through the things people create, including architecture, furniture, tools, weapons, arts and crafts, and items of personal adornment.

Reflections of Culture focuses on the most personally expressive of those objects – personal adornment. People around the world decorate their bodies with clothing, jewelry and various forms of body modification, including piercing, scarring, painting, shaping and tattooing. Personal adornment is an important way people express their cultural identity, and a particularly effective means of communicating social, political and economic information about themselves and the society in which they live.

Featuring walls painted in rich jewel tones, the gallery introduces visitors to what culture is and how it is expressed through a wide variety of contemporary and historic objects. Artifacts are placed alongside captivating photographs, which provide a context for how the objects are worn, by whom and why.

The gallery is divided into six sections, which include an introduction to the concept of culture, an exploration of the different types of personal adornment used around the world and thematic areas based on three types of information often conveyed through personal adornment – group membership, status and belief systems. Educational interactives throughout the gallery allow visitors to further explore how personal adornment is used to express culture.

“There were two big inspirations in creating this exhibition,” said curator Dr. Bobbi Hohmann. “Dorothy McClatchey’s passion for world travel and the diverse people she has encountered exemplify people’s thirst for understanding cultures beyond their own.

“The basic message of the exhibition is that people all across the globe use personal adornment to communicate information about themselves. In this exhibition we have paired unfamiliar, ethnographic items from around the world with examples that are more familiar to our visitors to bring that message home. So many cultural exhibitions focus on a particular culture or time period, but this exhibit spans the globe and allows visitors to learn more about their own culture at the same time recognizing similarities between many cultures,” Dr. Hohmann said.

Group Membership
Everyone belongs to at least one group, and the Group Membership area explores the different types of groups people belong to as well as the motivations behind group membership. Group membership helps shape cultural identity and define who we are, whether through a group someone is born into, such as a family, or one joined later in life, such as a club. Visitors can identify clues about the different types of groups individuals belong to as they look at a Scottish kilt, Shriner’s fez hat, school uniform, Atlanta Braves uniform, and Native American family crest animals.

It becomes clear how much information about a person can be expressed through distinctive clothing worn only by a certain ethnic or family group, or even by a sporting team or student. Visitors are encouraged to think about their membership in different types of groups and the identification they wear to show their inclusion or membership in them.

Status
In the Status exhibit area, visitors are introduced to the concept of status and the many different variables that determine a person’s status in society, including age, gender, kinship, wealth and power. Visitors learn how various cultures have different ways of presenting wealth, status or rank through what they wear. For example, the markings on an Air Force uniform indicate the rank of the officer while the animal on a delicately embroidered badge once identified the rank of a government official in China. Something most people are familiar with is the use of adornment to symbolize someone’s marital status. In many Western cultures, a ring is worn on the left hand to indicate someone is married. In other cultures it may be a certain hairstyle, tattoo, clothing item or piece of jewelry that conveys this information. Visitors will see many examples within Reflections of Culture, including Indian gold wedding necklaces, Maasai beaded hide earrings and Akha headdresses.

Because objects valued by some cultures are not significant to others, items indicating wealth can be vastly different. A pair of Jimmy Choo shoes or Cartier watch alongside Tibetan turquoise, pearl and coral jewelry  both signify the elite status of a person wearing them, but Westerners may be less likely to recognize the cultural value of the jewelry than the designer shoe label.

Belief Systems

Many cultural traditions have foundations deeply rooted in spiritual beliefs. The Belief Systems exhibit area examines the many ways people around the world use personal adornment to express their beliefs about the supernatural. The iconography, colors and even raw materials used to create an object can all be of symbolic significance and serve as expressions of faith.

Masks represent mythological animal and spirit figures to various African cultures, necklaces depict important deities to Hindus and Buddhists, and crosses and Saint medals represent religious icons to Christians. Among these examples, visitors will notice a Tuareg amulet holder, which holds verses from the Qur’an, and a Buddhist portable shrine, which is decorated with eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism, all designed to protect the wearer from harm. These and other devotional containers can hold charms, figures, verses and food offerings designed to protect the wearer from harm.

“Ultimately, Reflections of Culture helps visitors understand that no matter what culture we are part of, we all communicate the same kinds of social, political and economic information about ourselves to others,” Dr. Hohmann said. “Different cultures just do it in different ways, and those differences are what make anthropology and studying cultures around the world so fascinating.”

Reflections of Culture is included with Museum admission. Tickets are $13 for adults, $12 for students/seniors, $11 for children 12 and under, and free for Museum Members and for children under the age of 3. Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located at 767 Clifton Road in Atlanta.

Fernbank will host a special Reflections of Culture Day on January 20 to celebrate the unveiling of the exhibition and showcase the wonderful traditions of world cultures through performances, story telling and other activities. For more information, visitors can call 404.929.6300 or visit www.fernbankmuseum.org.

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