Women's Work, Women's Art: Nineteenth-Century Northern Athapaskan Clothing

Garments made from tanned animal hides afforded Northern Athapaskans protection against a harsh northern environment, but the striking features of this clothing are also a distinctive part of the traditional culture of the Indigenous peoples of North America's western subarctic. Beautifully decorated with quillwork, fringes, and pigments, they provide a means of artistic expression signifying ethnic identity and conveying information about the physical, social, and spiritual well-being of t...