Dance Shirt

Item number A6797 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Data
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Description

Tunic-like painted shirt made from cotton fabric. The shirt is made from a rectangle of cotton folded in half, machine-stitched along the edges to make side seams, leaving 25 cm unsewn for the armholes; 6 cm fringes cut horizontally along the seams. The neck is cut out of the centre of the cloth, with a hand-stitched seam. The main crest on the front represents a double-headed raven with outspread wings painted mainly in black with dark red and pale yellow highlights. The top of the back panel is painted with a creature's face in red and black.

History Of Use

Ceremonial dance shirt.

Iconographic Meaning

Raven is one of the supernatural beings who inhabit the earth. Local groups and families trace descent to an ancestor who received special powers and privileges from the supernatural beings. These might include songs, dances, and the right to wear particular crests.

Narrative

In 1963, Solomon Brown of Kitkatla (1886-1970) took two rattles (A6795-96) and a painted shirt (A6797) to Vera Webb of the Totem Pole Gift Shop, to sell them. He told her the items had belonged to his uncle, Dzagmgishaaytks (recorded as Zagumgish Hoiks), who had died when Solomon was a child. Vera asked Audrey Hawthorn at MOA if she would like to buy them for the museum, which she did.