Wampum World: An Art Installation

Opening today at the Albany Institute of History & Art is a new exhibit by Renée Ridgway: Wampum World. Ridgway “is an artist, researcher, and educator based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands” and her installation is a “multimedia exhibition  . . . an artist’s interpretation of the changing meaning of wampum from culture to culture and time period to time period. It combines video installations and the artist’s watercolors and collage works with objects that the artist has selected from the museum’s collection of Dutch colonial materials.”

The artist has also established this site that corresponds with her exhibition.

Interestingly, “No physical wampum is exhibited in this exhibition.” I presume that this choice has been made at least partly out of respect for the sacredness with which many Native American users hold wampum today. This question will doubtless be answered tomorrow, March 5, at the gallery talk featuring Ms. Ridgeway, who will be interviewed by Sue Herne, program coordinator at the Akwesasne Cultural Center.

Sometimes New York is just too far away–I wish I could attend!