This year’s Wearable Arts entries had many themes, from climate awareness to the joys of Juneau to shrimp cocktail. K̲aachgóon Rochelle Smallwood’s piece stood out.
Titled Ya Héen Áwé Ya K̲usteeyi, it towered over the audience, standing more than 10 feet tall on the model, Magdalena Kahlo. The title of K̲aachgóon’s piece, its description and the music behind it are all in Lingít.
Every year during Wearable Arts, professional judges come in and weigh each piece and its presentation — then they pick their favorites. But K̲aachgóon’s piece got left out of that process.
She found out that her piece had been disqualified from judging. The Juneau Arts and Humanities Council management, which puts on the show, says this was because of a miscommunication and a time crunch. They made assumptions about whether K̲aachgóon wanted her piece to be judged.
The model who wore the piece, Kahlo, as well as other artists and models at the event, complained of racism and exclusion backstage. The complaints worked their way up the chain to Nancy DeCherney, the JAHC’s Executive Director. The council apologized for the miscommunication, and its board members say they held two meetings to discuss the complaints.
Juneau arts council staff determined that there wasn’t racism involved in the decision to exclude K̲aachgóon’s piece from the judging process, but Kahlo disagrees.
“For them to just be like, ‘No, it wasn’t racist.’ It was like — it’s just kind of like — okay, well, you don’t get to decide that,” she said.
Kahlo says her experience during the weekend of Wearable Arts included microaggressions from other competitors and uncomfortable reactions to the piece being entirely in Lingít. K̲aachgóon…