Feathers: A Transcultural Art History

The feathers that birds create have long appealed to human makers. Feathers are structurally strong while giving the appearance of delicacy. They can be vibrant or muted in color, matte or iridescent. They are found everywhere that birds are found, which is to say, across the entire globe, and have given rise to feather art traditions that respond to material commonalities while also imbuing feathers with varying values, social roles, and aesthetic affordances.

Central to most of these traditions is the understanding that not all feathers are created equal. The feathers of certain rare birds have been ascribed economic value equivalent to that of the rarest mineral pigments, while others are understood to hold sacred value. The connection of a feather with the living body of the bird who formed it, even after their separation, is often perceived as central to the liveliness and agency of the feather itself.

Feathers have been incorporated into garments and accoutrements for the body, into sculptures, and into works that resemble paintings. They have been used as tools, objects of trade, and expressions of power and faith. The harvesting of feathers for human creation and consumption is also part of a larger history of extraction and violence, even in the case of cultures that venerated birds themselves as sacred beings.

The aim of the workshop is to address the art history of the feather across time and place, bringing studies on the role of feathers within particular artistic traditions into conversation with one another. Ranging from the Americas to Europe, Asia, and the Pacific, our goal is to stimulate an expanded, transcultural understanding of the feather’s affordances as a medium, and of the commonalities and differences in the ways that feathers have inspired makers from antiquity to the present.

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