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MoMA PS1 will present the first major solo exhibition of fourth-generation Navajo weaver Melissa Cody (b. 1983, No Water Mesa, Arizona), co-organized with the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP). On view from April 4 through September 2, 2024, Melissa Cody: Webbed Skies spans the last decade of her practice, showcasing over 30 weavings and featuring three major new commissions. Cody uses traditional methods, sophisticated patterns, and handmade dyes to underscore tapestries as potent technologies for visual storytelling, nodding to their influence on present-day digital automation. Honoring the medium’s histories, Cody’s works underscore critical conversations around placemaking and Indigenous futures through resilience and ingenuity.
The title of the exhibition, Webbed Skies, refers to the sky as a unifying element of all territories, connecting distinct narratives and methods of coexistence beyond borders. Cody’s tapestries carry forward the methods of traditional Navajo Germantown weaving, which developed out of the wool and blankets that were made in Germantown, Pennsylvania and supplied by the US government to the Navajo people during the forced expulsion from their territories in the mid-1800s. While acknowledging this history and working on a traditional Navajo loom, Cody’s masterful works exercise experimental palettes and patterns that animate through reinvention, reframing traditions as cycles of evolution.
Melissa Cody: Webbed Skies is organized by Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand – MASP and MoMA PS1. The exhibition is curated by Isabella Rjeille, Curator, MASP, and Ruba Katrib, Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, MoMA PS1. Exhibition research and support is provided by Andrea Sánchez, Coordinator of Curatorial Affairs, MoMA PS1.
Major support is provided by The Coby Foundation.
Press Kit
Images
Melissa Cody. World Traveler. 2014. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes. 90 x 48 7/8 in. (228.6 x 124.1 cm). Courtesy the artist
Melissa Cody. Woven in the Stones. 2018. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes. 39 1/4 x 23 5/8 in. (99.7 x 60 cm). Courtesy the artist
Melissa Cody. Deep Brain Stimulation. 2011. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes. 40 x 30 3/4 in. (101.6 x 78.1 cm). Courtesy the artist
Melissa Cody. White Out. 2012. 3-ply aniline dyed wool. 17 × 24″ (43.2 × 61 cm). Courtesy the artist
Melissa Cody. 4th Dimension. 2016. 3-ply aniline dyed wool. 26 × 28″ (66 × 71.1 cm). Courtesy the artist
Melissa Cody. Path of the Snake. 2013. 3-ply aniline dyed wool. 36 × 24″ (91.4 × 61 cm). Courtesy the artist
Melissa Cody. Pocketful of Rainbows. 2019. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes. 19 x 10 3/4 in. (48.3 x 27.3 cm). Courtesy the artist
Melissa Cody. Lightning Storm. 2012. 3-ply aniline dyed wool. 14 × 20″ (35.6 × 50.8 cm). Courtesy the artist