Watchtower

Jeffrey Gibson, Watchtower, 2018, polyester satin, printed chiffon, polyester organza, canvas, tin jingles, nylon fringe, assorted glass, plastic, and stone beads, acrylic mirrors, sheet acrylic, nylon thread, artificial sinew, tipi poles, 251 × 75 × 13 in. (637.5 × 190.5 × 33.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2020.5.1, © 2019, Jeffrey Gibson

Artwork Details

Title
Watchtower
Date
2018
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
251 × 75 × 13 in. (637.5 × 190.5 × 33.0 cm)
Copyright
© 2019, Jeffrey Gibson
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
polyester satin, printed chiffon, polyester organza, canvas, tin jingles, nylon fringe, assorted glass, plastic, and stone beads, acrylic mirrors, sheet acrylic, nylon thread, artificial sinew, tipi poles
Classifications
Subjects
  • Dress — ceremonial
Object Number
2020.5.1

Artwork Description

With colorful, oversized tunics Jeffrey Gibson asks, "Can a garment be a statement? Can a garment be a sculpture? Can a garment be political?"

The works are adorned with sequins, jingles, protest images, and song lyrics, as well as intricate beadwork characteristic of Choctaw tribal traditions and a rainbow color scheme common to contemporary powwow regalia.  For Gibson, each element represents a building block of identity--a public marker of how others see us and how we come to know ourselves.

Gibson is a citizen of the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent.  But apart from attending community gatherings and powwows, he wasn't raised within a Native community.  As such, he would ask himself, "'Am I a participant?' 'Am I an observer?' 'Where do I stand in there?'"  He describes feeling like an outsider, as he and his family traveled around the world with his civil engineer father, moving from Colorado to Germany to New Jersey, Korea, and Maryland.  He has said that "this kind of movement through different forms of identity has made me grow and see the world in a very broad way."

Gibson's garments were inspired by the shirts worn by Lakota people as part of the Ghost Dance spiritual movement in the nineteenth century.  For those who practiced it, the dance was intended to summon ancestral spirits, return to traditional ways of life, and repel colonizers from Native land.  Gibson was drawn to the notion of garments that could transform and bestow power on the wearer.  As a young gay man, this image helped him connect to communities and ideas greater than himself, and to construct a larger-than-life vision of identity based on the histories and experiences that shaped him.

Works by this artist (5 items)

Kapulani Landgraf, ‘Eli‘eli kapu, 2003, silver gelatin print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.2
Eli‘eli kapu
Date2003
silver gelatin print
On view
Kapulani Landgraf, Puka mai, 2002, hand-woven silver gelatin collage, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.1
Puka mai
Date2002
hand-woven silver gelatin collage
Not on view
Kapulani Landgraf, Nā Hono a Pi‘ikea, from the series Ponoiwi, 2011, hand-etched silver gelatin print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.4
Nā Hono a Pi‘ikea, from the series Ponoiwi
Date2011
hand-etched silver gelatin print
Not on view
Kapulani Landgraf, Pu‘u Nēnē, from the series Ponoiwi, 2011, hand-etched silver gelatin print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.3
Pu‘u Nēnē, from the series Ponoiwi
Date2011
hand-etched silver gelatin print
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

David Levinthal, Untitled from the series Hockey, 2007, Polaroid Polacolor ER Land Film, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of an anonymous donor, 2017.32.194, © 2007, David Levinthal
Untitled from the series Hockey
Date2007
Polaroid Polacolor ER Land Film
Not on view
Nicholas Nixon, The Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts, 2017, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Samuel and Blanche Koffler Acquisition Fund, 2018.1
The Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts
Date2017
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Untitled, from the series Wagon Train
Date2018
pigment print mounted to dibond
Not on view