Watters’ culturally modified grad cap in permanent NYC museum display
It was a delight to interview shíshálh cedar weaver Shyanne (“Shy”) Watters for Sunshine Coast Life magazine. Shy’s unique cedar hats range from a sasquatch version with long black hair to a red-dress-themed one honouring Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.
Shy is perhaps best known for her culturally modified graduation cap whose pattern reflects ocean waves, symbolizing how the Salish Sea, on British Columbia’s southwest coast, brings together her two territories, the Coast Salish and the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl). One of these caps is part of “Generation to Generation,” a permanent exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. It’s among contemporary Northwest Coast First Nations cultural works displayed in a new hall that opened there last year. Read my profile of Shy Watters here.
