As a complement to our new exhibition, Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest, we have created a digital project that invites you to explore the world of Navajo weaving. Highlighting Diné history, culture, and cosmology, as well as the localized and land-based knowledge systems that guide the making process, this dynamic online experience presents weaving as an art form, a cultural practice, and a lived experience. Join curator Hadley Jensen and the Director of Digital Humanities/Exhibitions at Bard Graduate Center Jesse Merandy for a virtual walk through of this collaborative multimedia project. Learn more about its background, development, and design, as well as the many interactive features that immerse users in the work of Diné weavers and visual artists.

Explore the Digital Exhibition

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Hadley Jensen’s research addresses the intersections among fine art, anthropology, and material culture, with a particular focus on Indigenous arts of the North American Southwest. Her curatorial project Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest (Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York, spring 2023) is the first exhibition to showcase the American Museum of Natural History’s collection of Diné (Navajo) textiles. Together, she and Rapheal Begay (Diné) are co-curators of Horizons: Weaving Between the Lines with Diné Textiles, opening at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, in summer 2023. Her work has been supported by the Autry Museum of the American West, Center for Craft, Lunder Institute for American Art, Smithsonian Institution’s National Anthropological Archives and National Museum of Natural History, Terra Foundation for American Art, Textile Society of America, and Wyeth Foundation for American Art.

She is former BGC/AMNH postdoctoral fellow in museum anthropology (2018-2021) and holds a PhD from Bard Graduate Center (2018). In addition, she has hands-on experience learning Indigenous weaving and natural-dyeing practices, which has strengthened and enlivened her work as an academic researcher, curator, and teacher.

Jesse Merandy is the Director of Digital Humanities/Digital Exhibitions (DH/DX) at BGC. He has more than 20 years of experience developing digital projects in the academic, commercial, and cultural heritage sectors. Over the past five years he has collaborated with students and faculty to realize many innovative digital interactive projects at BGC. His research interests include interactive technology and pedagogy, location-based mobile experiences, digital exhibition design, and nineteenth-century New York City. He holds a PhD in English from the Graduate Center at CUNY, where he completed the institution’s first all-digital dissertation, Vanishing Leaves.