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  • 2024 Festival, Indigenous Voices of the Americas,

    Day Five: Top Ten Photos

    June 30, 2024 | Chloe E.W. Levine, Elisa Hough, Molly Szymanski | Comments

    Our dedicated Folklife Festival participants and attendees did not let the thick humidity get to them today. As the crews set up their stages and artists laid out their work, our site was soundtracked by Hawaiian oli chant, as Hālau ‘Ōhi‘a’s ritual string workshop, where we learned how to make string figures called hei out of cordage. Later, all four of our storytellers came together in the Amphitheater for a cross-cultural round robin of story sharing, creating one unified community from many lived experiences.

    The forecast called for rain this afternoon, but we beat the odds. Clear skies and dry ground set the perfect scene for our penultimate evening of featured concerts: Nadia Larcher (Diaguita Calchaquí) in the Rasmuson Theater and Kaqchikel singer-songwriter Sara Curruchich on Four Directions Stage.

    From behind, a man in a black shirt flies a colorful, hexagonal kit in front of the U.S. Capitol Building.
    After days of preparation, Ubaldo Sánchez watched his tissue-paper barrilete (kite) soar above the National Mall.
    Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A young child with pink glasses looks up at a man, face out of frame, holding a woven basket still in progress.
    During Morning on the Mall, a sensory-friendly event series from the Smithsonian, young visitors got to learn the basics of black ash basketry with Kelly Church and her husband, Jeff Strand.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man leans toward a mural on a wall, painting with one hand and holding a bowl of dark blue paint in the other.
    Self-taught painter Cornelio V. Campos began to put the finishing touches on his new mural, created this week with help from Emily Pahuamba and dozens of Festival visitors. The mural celebrates his Purépecha heritage.
    Photo by Craig Fergus, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    An elder woman laughs and rests one arm on the shoulder of a young man, who sits at a pottery wheel forming a red clay bowl. He looks at her adoringly.
    In a tender scene at the Zapotec Ceramics tent, master potter Rufina Ruiz Lopez helped a visitor shape his clay—and if his smile is any indication, the moment of connection meant the world to him.
    Photo by Joshua Davis, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A woman wearing purple embroidered blouse, purple lipstick, and a headset microphone smiles as she stirs something in a glass bowl.
    For a sumptuous start to the morning, Dr. Claudia Serrato, who is Purépecha, Huastec, and Zacateco, prepared her raw cacao avocado pudding in the Foodways demonstration kitchen.
    Photo by Grace Bowie, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Two-frame animation of a skateboarder with short, bright red hair doing a kick flip between two short wooden ramps in the street.
    Puerto Rican skater Manny Santiago landed a trick between skate jams. Santiago hosts skateboarding contests for young skaters in Puerto Rico and has represented the island in the Summer Olympics.
    Photos by Mary Yee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A young dancer, center, wearing full regalia and turquoise jewelry and holding brown feathers in each hand, looks straight into the camera. Behind her, men in plain clothes are lined up underneath a banner that reads Four Directions Stage.
    A young dancer with the DinéTah Navajo Dancers performed close to the audience during the group’s show at Four Directions Stage. Their name, DinéTah, comes from the name of their Four Corners homeland, and translates to “among the people.”
    Photo by James Dacey, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man with two dark braids and a red floral headband, holding onto a crutch, sits in front of three skate decks hanging on a wall, each with a black-and-white portrait and geometric patterns in bright colors.
    Visual artist and skater Keith Secola, Jr., sustained an injury in the early days of the Festival, yet he’s been on the grounds every day, sharing his artwork and cheering on his fellow athletes.
    Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A woman performs in front of a microphone, holding a shaker in one hand and holding both arms upward. Her pink dress matches a dark pink backdrop.
    Nadia Larcher played our indoor featured concert in the Rasmuson Theater this afternoon. Here, she plays a percussive shaker made of seeds—one of many Andean instruments featured in her music.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A crowd of people stand in front of a stage. On it stands a woman in a red top singing, a person holding an electric guitar and pointing towards the sky, and a woman playing the marimba.
    Singer-songwriter Sara Curruchich played the penultimate featured concert on the Four Directions Stage—her first Festival performance with a full band, including guitar, backup vocals, marimba, and a surprise appearance by Nadia Larcher on the tinya drum. During her set, Curruchich played her song “Pueblos” and dedicated it to the resistance and strength of Native people everywhere.
    Photo by Stephen L. Kolb, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

    The weekend may be over, but the festivities continue Monday, July 1, for the final day of the Festival. Enjoy art, music, food, and see the send-off ceremony of Kānepō, a Hawaiian volcanic stone that has acted as one of the cardinal direction stones at the National Museum of the American Indian since its opening 2004, before he returns to Hawai‘i.

    Sons of Membertou celebrates Canada Day with a featured concert in the Potomac Atrium, while other musicians offer impromptu “Songs of Farewell to Share.” Come say your own farewells as we bring the Indigenous Voices of the Americas program to a close.

    Molly Szymanski is a media intern with the 2024 Folklife Festival. They are from Baltimore and currently live in College Park, Maryland. Elisa Hough is the editor and web content manager for the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Chloe E.W. Levine is the social media coordinator for the 2024 Folklife Festival. The city she has most recently called home is Somerville, Massachusetts.

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