WE'WHA: AN EXPLORATION INTO AGENCY

Not Your Average Cistory | Amelia Smith

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In 1886, a Zuni Two-Spirit artist visited the Smithsonian. Her name was We’wha. Brought to Washington by ethnologist Matilda Coxe Stevenson, We’wha was able to impart knowledge onto the museum in incredible ways.

A portrait taken of We'wha in 1894. Source

Gender is a weird thing, especially when talking about other culture’s genders. In Zuni culture, We’wha was a lhamana, someone who was assigned male at birth, but would take on the gender roles of women. While this may sound similar to what we in the West understanding of transgender people, it is important not to conflate the two as the lhamana played a significant social and religious role within Zuni society. For the purposes of this article, I will be using she/her pronouns for We’wha.

By all accounts, We’wha was a highly acclaimed artist. Her pottery and weaving skills drew the attention of Coxe Stevenson, who was sent by the Smithsonian to Zuni to document and collect research on the Zuni peoples. As a result, many pieces that were made by We’wha found their way into the Smithsonian collection. Unfortunately, due to the way that the Smithsonian recorded information in their ledgers, We’wha’s role was frequently lost.

We’wha’s  six month visit to Washington and the Smithsonian is truly a fascinating story. For Coxe Stevenson, bringing We’wha to the Capital served two purposes; spark interest in the nascent field of ethnology and to allow for more information to be collected on objects that had already been obtained from the Zuni peoples. Of her time at the Smithsonian, there are two instances that are particularly noteworthy: one involving a loom and another involving prayer feathers.

The loom had previously been collected by the Smithsonian, but it was disassembled upon arriving at the museum and catalogued as individual pieces. As a result, no one at the Smithsonian was aware of how the loom was meant to be used. With We’wha being on the museum's premises, she was able to assemble and use the loom. This was a highly documented moment in both newspaper articles as well as photographic evidence, as We’wha’s activities in the nation’s Capital were the talk of the town. A personal favourite of mine is the photograph of We’wha setting up the loom. In, what appears to be a storage room at the Smithsonian, We’wha is sitting on the floor while the loom is placed upon collection boxes and stepping stools. It is a brilliant contrast that feels out of place for a 19th Century institution.

We'wha and the loom in the Smithsonian. The loom came from the museum's collection. Source

The prayer feathers are a creation by We’wha in a most delightful way. While she was in Washington, the Summer Solstice was coming up and We’wha wanted to perform the traditional Zuni ceremonies that accompanied it. This involved the creation of prayer feathers. While the materials to make these would have been able to be purchased in Washington, Zuni customs forbade acquiring them through any sort of monetary system. This left only one option; the Smithsonian’s collections themselves. In an act that echoes the artist in residence programs of over a century later, the Smithsonian made its storage available for We’wha to use. And that is just what she did. The result was a set of prayer feathers that came from multiple birds local to Zuni as well as shells and dyes. Once the ceremony was performed, the feathers were planted for two days before re-entering the museum as something entirely new. In this way, We’wha was able to recontextualize the museum’s collection, highlighting the overlap between the strict categories that existed in the catalogues.

The prayer feathers that We'wha created to celebrate the Summer Solstice. Source

These are but two examples of We’wha’s time in Washington and this is really only just scratching the surface of her experiences with the museum. Her story is truly remarkable and if this article has piqued your interest, I would highly recommend reading more about her. Her role as not just a subject of the museum but a participant as well, in a time when institutions were predominantly concerned with preserving indigenous material culture without preserving the indigenous peoples themselves, opens up so many discussions that could not possibly be told in this article alone.

For further reading on We'wha, I would recommend:

Issac, Gwyneira. "We'wha Goes To Washington." In Reassembling the Collection: Ethnographic Museums and Indigenous Agency, edited by Rodney Harrison, Sarah Byrne, and Anne Clarke, 143-169. Santa Fe: School For Advanced Research Press, 2013.

Roscoe, Will. The Zuni Man-Woman. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991.