Textile museums in Canada, Guatemala y Mexico

Abstract

Textile artifacts are not central devices in generalized curatorial practices: even if these objects might be considered simultaneously as decorative items, popular art pieces or ethnographical resources, they are certainly not independent from more traditionalist and established kinds of exhibits. For those reasons, this article will compare the collections and displays of three important institutions exclusively related to textile artifacts: the Textile Museum of Canada (inaugurated in Toronto in 1975); the Museum Ixchel of the Indigenous Garment (opened to the public in 1977 in Guatemala); and the Museum Textil of Oaxaca, Mexico (founded in 2008). Some institutional, architectonical and technical aspects of these three museums will be compared. The article will suggest some patrimonial possibilities latent in textile museums, according to their precise typological traits, with the main idea that textile museums show a very specific and challenging and kind of cultural heritage.