The Minko: Lowak Shoppala' Costumes

 Margaret Roach Wheeler

Margaret Wheeler notes the mannequins for her costume exhibit at the Cultural Center were designed to represent copper. She laid out the exhibit so that as people arrive, they see the Minko (leader) raised above everyone else. She used a complicated process to weave a graphic of the double-headed woodpecker that so often appears in Chickasaw stories – into the fabric of the kilt. She points out the handwoven belt, and the cape features a eye graphic like one she saw at the Smithsonian. She used a shell for the closure and an elaborate feathered headdress.

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