The exhibit “Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America” made its North American debut earlier this month at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. Visitors have until May 8 to check it out; a smaller version will also be exhibited this summer at the Aquinnah Cultural Center.
The exhibit, which has been on tour in the United Kingdom, tells the story of Wampanoag Na5ve America. According to a press release from the museum, the Wampanoag people have inhabited the northeastern United States for over 12,000 years and greeted the passengers of the Mayflower in 1620, helping them survive. Yet, the release says, “for almost 400 years, the story of the impact of that event and its aftermath on the Wampanoag Nation has been widely marginalized in the telling of American history.”
The new exhibit explores that mostly untold story, “using images, ideas, and wampum by contemporary Wampanoag artists and educators, and examines and celebrates art, culture, and resilience of the Wampanoag Nation.”
For thousands of years, the release explains, wampum belts have held cultural, sacred, and symbolic significance to the Wampanoag Nation. Made from the purple and white shells of the whelk and quahog, “wampum beads embody the Wampanoag connection to the sea and to life itself. Each shell bead is imbued with memory and meaning by the maker, the belts becoming tapestries of art and tribal history.” The centerpiece of the museum’s exhibit is a new wampum belt, through which contemporary Wampanoag artists share their story and set out their aspirations for the future.
The M.V. Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm. Admission is free to members; nonmembers $18 for adults, $15 for seniors, $5 for children 7 to 17, and free for children 6 and under. Islander rates are available.
