
The Whirling Log image seems below totally different names and variations for communities the world over — manji in Buddhism, swastika in Hinduism. Particularly for the Diné or Navajo folks, whose ancestral homelands are in what’s now known as Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, the image is thought by a wide range of names in Diné bizaad (the Navajo language). It references the Diné Bahaneʼ or Navajo creation story and is mostly understood as a harbinger of good luck, therapeutic, and stability. However for some viewers coping with historic trauma, it calls just one that means to thoughts: Nazi propaganda.
Nazi swastikas and Whirling Logs are visually distinct, with the previous angled as a diamond and the latter formed like a sq.. Nonetheless, the Diné image was suppressed for many years by a settler-dominated artwork market that conflated it with the Nazi insignia. Over the previous a number of years, the Whirling Log has begun to reappear within the work of a number of modern Diné artists. With the business and institutional success of grasp weaver Melissa Cody, rising artist Tyrrell Tapaha, photo-based artist Dakota Mace, elder weaver Philip Singer, and others, a brand new sort of settler style has accepted this picture again into the lexicon of up to date artwork and permitted engagement with the Diné interpretation of the traditional Whirling Log.

Establishments displaying work with the Whirling Log typically face backlash, confusion, and misunderstanding from non-Native guests. Museums could embody a textual content explaining the context, as is the case in Cody’s solo exhibition of woven works on view by way of September 9 at MoMA PS1 in Lengthy Island Metropolis, Queens, the place wall labels focus on the Diné cultural significance of the image and the significance of its reclamation. Cody’s “Good Luck” contains a vibrantly woven Whirling Log and Rainbow Individual, a deity representing safety.


Nonetheless, many non-Native museumgoers insist on centering Nazism and their very own misinterpretation of a picture over the precise content material of the paintings, erasing the Diné non secular interpretation of the Whirling Log within the course of. It’s crucial to grasp the lengthy historical past of genocide and cultural violence that the Whirling Log has survived, together with that Native American non secular practices have been unlawful below United States federal legislation till the 1978 passage of the American Indian Non secular Freedom Act.
When the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was first constructed by way of Diné homelands within the early Eighteen Eighties, White settlers started advertising Diné textiles and silverwork to non-Native folks, typically rich East Coasters. Quickly, White sellers — together with buying and selling publish house owners and gallerists — developed a big affect over which Southwest Native American creative types have been introduced to the market, which they keep as we speak. From the late nineteenth by way of the early twentieth century, White buying and selling publish house owners pressured Diné artists to include the Whirling Log into their jewellery and textile designs, alongside different symbols just like the singular sq. cross, dragonfly double cross, and zig-zag. Buying and selling publish house owners favored these designs when advertising and promoting an genuine “Indian” aesthetic that may cater to the tastes of settler patrons.

The Whirling Log was valued aesthetically by non-Native collectors till the Nazi occasion appropriated and altered the swastika within the Thirties, turning a design of fine luck right into a weapon of racism and antisemitism. In response, Whirling Log designs swiftly fell into disuse throughout the USA. In response to the Nazis’ violent use of the design, the Diné, O’odham, Apache, and Hopi tribes signed a proclamation in 1940. It learn:
“As a result of the above decoration, which has been a logo of friendship amongst our forefathers for a lot of centuries, has been desecrated not too long ago by one other nation of peoples, due to this fact it’s resolved that henceforth from this date on and endlessly extra our tribes surrender using the logo generally identified as we speak because the swastika . . . on our blankets, baskets, artwork objects, sand work and clothes.”
Regardless of its distinct cultural significance, stress from non-Native sellers and patrons successfully prevented the Whirling Log from showing in Southwest Native American artwork for many years. There’s a protracted and sophisticated historical past, which continues as we speak, of Diné artists’ financial dependence on non-Native patrons. However new generations of Diné weavers have extra autonomy with regard to sources of revenue and to whom they promote their work. As Diné grasp fiber artist and shepherd Roy Kady not too long ago stated in an interview with 4 Corners Public Radio, “That’s one thing that was imposed on us as part of colonization as a result of this was being woven for the buying and selling publish, for his or her sole function to promote it to the vacationers and to revenue from three or 4 occasions fold. Now, you’re the artist. Now, you’re answerable for your personal artistry, your interpretation of what you wish to design and to weave.” Nonetheless, some Diné artists are cautious of utilizing the Whirling Log due to the potential financial penalties — oftentimes, artwork containing the sacred image nonetheless doesn’t promote.

Because the grandchildren of people that survived ethnic cleaning makes an attempt — the Holocaust and the Navajo Lengthy Stroll to imprisonment — our adrenaline runs excessive at indicators of professional antisemitism. On this second when false claims of antisemitism are used to justify what human rights organizations have named a genocide in Palestine and utilized to any motion that doesn’t straight align with Zionism, it’s essential to grasp the Whirling Log’s historical past and enduring significance. The projection of antisemitism as a device of erasure, whether or not of an Indigenous non secular image or of Palestinian folks and tradition, shouldn’t be acceptable.
Non-Native curators and museums selling artwork with decolonial undertones could fall into the historic sample of dictating the market by way of settler tastes. Within the twenty first century, these tastes partially stem from a deep-seated want to own and show decolonial virtues, impressed by the novel work of artists like Cody. With time, we can look again and discern whether or not this present shift is merely a short lived efficiency of inclusivity that makes use of artists to carry out a DEI-approved visible land acknowledgment.
The choice is a everlasting place for radical Indigenous work in modern artwork contexts with out the filtration of symbols and designs by way of a White viewer’s lens. With this stated, we acknowledge that some Indigenous artists don’t try for acceptance into the settler artwork world. Indigenous artists have been creating for 1000’s of years and can proceed for 1000’s extra, whether or not embraced by White artwork spheres or not.
We encourage these working in modern artwork to mirror on their biases and positionality, particularly on condition that Indigenous artwork is experiencing a brand new degree of visibility. In a latest evaluation of Cody’s present New York solo exhibits, Artnews editor Alex Greenberger wrote, “Cody’s whirling logs do make me uncomfortable, however that doesn’t imply her works that characteristic them ought to be taken down.” Greenberger’s point out of his and different patrons’ discomfort reminds us that traditionally and as we speak, the White viewer’s lens is valued and prioritized in modern artwork areas. The misreading of Indigenous designs and behavior of self-centered interpretation have a wider impact than merely demonstrating one’s ignorance: They’re an overt type of cultural erasure. Native creative sovereignty requires centering Indigenous that means, not simply Indigenous aesthetics.
