Reflections of Culture
Visitors are invited to examine how what they wear tells who they are.
They will learn how people around the world communicate information about themselves as they explore various forms of personal adornment, including traditional and contemporary clothing, jewelry, and body art.
Reflections of Culture draws from Fernbank’s permanent collections – featuring the Dorothy Methvin McClatchey Collection – to showcase the fascinating similarities among cultures throughout the world and the different ways cultural information is expressed through the things people create and wear.
This exhibit focuses on the most personally expressive of those objects: personal adornment. People globally decorate their bodies with clothing, jewelry, and various forms of body modification, including piercing, scarring, painting, shaping, and tattooing. Personal adornment allows individuals to express their cultural identity and provides an effective means of communicating social, political, and economic information about themselves and the societies they inhabit.
Throughout the exhibit, attendees can discover what culture is and how it is expressed through a variety of contemporary and historic objects. Artifacts are placed alongside captivating photographs, providing context for how the objects are worn, by whom, and why. Educational offerings throughout the gallery allow visitors to further explore how personal adornment is used to express culture.
