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RISD Museum’s Manual 18 Celebrates Nature

In our [Chamoru] culture, inafa’maolek is our most important value. It roughly translates as “to make good for each other.” Inafa’maolek teaches us that all things are connected and related, including people, environments, and all species. Because all things are interwoven, we must always act with guinaiya and respetu, love and respect. –Craig Santos Perez, introduction

Manual 18 explores human interactions with the natural world, from frank awe and deep appreciation of the immediate moment to eternal questions and ancient unfinished business. This issue of Manual complements the exhibition Being and Believing in the Natural World, co-curated by Gina Borromeo, Wai Yee Chiong, and Sháńdíín Brown, on view at the RISD Museum now through May 7, 2023.

From the Files

Brianna Turner protects the protector through conservation analysis of a carving of Vishnu.

Double Takes

Josiah Luis Alderete + Stephen Parman stare right back at an Aztec spider monkey.
Gina Borromeo + Wai Yee Chiong rattle a sistrum in honor of the bovine deity Hathor.
Benedict Gagliardi + Paola Demattè sing the praises of a Chinese lei vessel embellished with cicadas.

Object Lessons

Sháńdíín Brown reflects on how Diné innovation and self-reliance shine in a silver squash-blossom necklace.
Jen Thum ponders the nature of authenticity as she uncovers the secrets of an ancient ibis mummy.
Phillip E. Bloom explains how a vivid depiction of Buddha worked to assemble the spirits of water and land.

Artists on Art

k. funmilayo aileru declares It Was Not a Fight, It Was a Massacre.
Melanie Yazzie walks in beauty.

Portfolio

A natural progression of works from the collection.

How To

Carmen Arnold-Biucchi pays attention to the animal symbolism on ancient Greek coins.

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Manual: a journal about art and its making, a twice-yearly publication, uses the collections, exhibitions, and collaborations of the RISD Museum as an impetus for essays and interviews, artist interventions, and archive highlights. A fusion of academic arts journal and design magazine, Manual is a resource for engaged conversations about art, design, and the impact of creative making by curators, artists, scholars, and educators.

Proceeds from RISD Museum publications support the work of the museum.

The RISD Museum is supported by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with the generous partnership of the Rhode Island School of Design, its Board of Trustees, and Museum Governors. Additional generous support for this issue of Manual is provided by the RISD Museum Associates and Sotheby’s.

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