The Project

The Will to Adorn: African American Dress and the Aesthetics of Identity is a multi-year, collaborative folk cultural research and public presentation project initiated by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Through the work and perspectives of museum, academic, and community scholars, as well as community-based cultural practitioners, including artisans and designers from across the nation, this project explores the diversity of African American identities as expressed through the cultural aesthetics and traditional arts of the body, dress, and adornment. This ongoing research will be shared through future Smithsonian public programs, including a Folklife Festival program in 2013, an exhibition, as well as through publications and online materials.