ADORN: A Portrait Exhibit
ADORN (ə-‘dȯrn), verb
To embellish or make beautiful with care. To transform the ordinary into something special.
ADORN portrait exhibit presents members of the CRC community posing in or with their special clothing and accessories to invite conversation on how humans give meaning to the ways we dress and the reflection of our individual and collective identities, histories, and social roles.
Clothing is a versatile and powerful form of communication that encompasses a wide range of contradictory expressions. Clothing can signal both conformity and resistance to social norms, render the wearer invisible or draw attention, and announce one’s individuality or group membership.
As humans, we often feel vulnerable about our bodies and sometimes clothing is like armor, a protective layer in stressful situations, or a way to make us brave when we are afraid or unsure.
How do you adorn your body? What stories do your clothes tell about you?
Featured Portraits
ADORN is a collaboration of Anthropology professor Anastasia Panagakos and Photography professor Kathryn Mayo.
Shabana
My name is Shabana and this traditional, special occasion dress from my country, Afghanistan, represents my Afghan culture. My friend gave me this dress years ago as a gift. It was made in Afghanistan. The dress was made with hard work and lots of bright colors, hand embroidery, and mirror details to make it attractive. When I wear this dress, I feel very connected to my culture and to my family and friends. It brings me a bittersweet feeling, reminding me of difficult times of war and a lack of peace in my country. Being an immigrant in the United States, it is hard being away from your country, but wearing this dress also triggers my memories of happier days that I spent with my family and my mom growing up and running in the fields under clear skies in Afghanistan. I miss this a lot. The dress itself includes the bright colors of the Afghan flag, and because of the colors, I feel proud and regal when I wear it. I feel connected to the dress because it is so clearly an Afghan dress, and it is very special to me.
Michelle
My name is Michelle Puzon Barkley. I am wearing blue scrubs, my stethoscope and a work jacket I got from having worked in the Emergency Room. These articles are special to me because they represent over 25 years of being a nurse. I chose this outfit because it represents being a nursing student to having a career as a college nurse at a pre-eminent community college for 22 years. I once heard that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. I’ve been blessed to do what I love.
Markus and Annette
My wife and I are wearing the STV Alpentänzer Schuhplattler club’s version of the traditional Miesbacher Tracht from Bavaria, a southern state of my native Germany. Regional Trachten were first developed in the 15th century, and members of traditional clubs (Trachtenvereine) and individuals who appreciate traditional clothing continue to wear formal and informal folk costumes throughout the Alpine regions of Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and neighboring countries with German-speaking ancestry.
Trachten vary greatly across different towns and regions, but signature items for men include Lederhosen (shorts made of goat leather and decorated with stitching), suspenders bearing the logo of a club or a region on their Steg (chest plate), fabric vests, and velour hats adorned with feathers or goat beards. Women wear Dirndl dresses consisting of long fabric skirts, matching aprons, and corset-style Mieder tops. Headwear styles vary by region, and male Trachtler are only supposed to remove their hats when sleeping or praying. Modern Tracht tends to be less elaborate and made of materials which are easier to clean and maintain.
Finally, the nuances of how Tracht is worn can be significant as well. For example, women may communicate their relationship status (married, single, or widowed) with where they tie their apron’s bow, and hat pins convey places the owner has visited or events they may have attended. And some Trachten add or substitute elements on feast days or in times of mourning, which further reflects the cultural values of those who wear them.
Audrey
My name is Audrey and the two rings represent my different sides of my family, as I am a child of divorce. The aquamarine ring you see is a family heirloom on my dad's side, passed down for I believe four generations now (starting with my great grandmother). I don't wear it often, as it is a precious heirloom, but I like to view it every now and then as a reminder that I am cherished and loved on my dad's side of the family. The alexandrite ring is from my mom's side, and she actually has a matching ring to go with it. This ring I wear more often as I always wear it whenever I go traveling with my mom. She and I had actually bought the rings during one of our traveling adventures, and we have made it a mother-daughter tradition ever since!
The bangles and beaded bracelet come from my Nanas. You see, the bangles are two christmas gifts they gave me, the silver one being a matching bracelet I sometimes see Nana S wear while the blue-flower one was a gift from a trip Nana J went on. The beaded bracelet came from my Nana J. She had given me a goal throughout high school: if I were to earn straight A's, I would receive a bead for a bracelet. 8 beads for 8 semesters of straight A's, it's a bracelet I constantly wear in reminder of how smart I am and how hard I work, despite Covid and other complications within my early stages of life. I know that both Nana S and Nana J love decorating me with jewelry, but the fact that they match with one of their own pieces, give me "I thought about you" gifts, or have me take on a hard challenge makes me know that they are very proud of me.
Finally, the earrings and the necklace, a gift to me from my boyfriend. Shaped like hearts and also aquamarines (my birthstone by the way), he had saved up over the entire year to give them to me on one of our anniversaries. I wear these pieces of jewelry way more often as I love dressing up for dates. These beauties make me able to look towards the future where I get to spend my time with a guy like him.
Though jewelry is not necessarily an entire outfit, I believe accessories help make us sparkle and shine and show to the world who supports and loves us. I sparkle and shine thanks to my family and those who I love and surround myself with.
Miranda
Who am I inside this costume of mine you may ask? My name is Miranda Roccucci, Associated Students of Cosumnes River College Student Senate President and a strong independent leader. I decided to wear my professional wear as a piece of clothing that represents me because inside these pieces of clothing, I feel so powerful. I am wearing my Student Senate President shirt, a blue jacket, black nice pants, simple black flats, and my Student Senate President badge. Being in this professional wear makes me look serious and someone who can be taken seriously because of how much I care about making the school community a better place. I tend to dress this way when I attend any type of administrative meeting, for example, when I attend the board of Trustees meetings. This makes up a lot of who I am and I’ve never felt happier.
Koi
My name is Koi and I don’t have many cultural outfits from my family but I do have cosplays that hold a lot of significance to me. I am wearing one of my favorite cosplays of a character from a donghua and manhua called “Heaven officials blessing” named Xie Lian. He is one of the main protagonists in this story and is a human who ascended to heaven three times and goes from being a prince admired by heaven to being a laughingstock of the realms. I enjoy his character and the story specially because he has one being, another protagonist, so devoted to him and willing to wait for him and be a support which is signified by the butterflies I have put in the hair.
Akaysia
Hello everyone, my name is Akaysia Hill and I am wearing my Los Rios Student Health and Wellness Team t-shirt. I chose to showcase this shirt because mental health has always been a central part of my life and it is also closely tied to my personal calling. As a child I watched family members struggle with mental health challenges and later, as a student at CRC, I faced my own battles. It was during my freshman year that I declared psychology as my major driven by a deep desire to help others on their healing journeys. In my current role advocating for student health and wellness that regardless of our backgrounds or identities, we essentially need community support to thrive individually. It feels like a full circle moment to be back home with Los Rios guiding students who faced the same struggles I did during college. My shirt speaks volumes and I just want to remind anyone listening - you are so loved and never alone.
Omari
My name is Omari Tau. Performing artist, creator, and professor of vocal music. And I’m wearing a costume from Bones of Girls, an opera by Ryan Suleiman and Cristina Fríes. The piece is a long kimono style robe and skirt with hand-dyed ropes, all in shades of burnt, dark, and vintage maroon. The pattern swirls with blacks and browns with contrasting shades of sand and hazelnut.
I chose this outfit because it was created for me by my dearest friend Selven O’keef Jarmon. In the opera, I played the voice of “Dogs,” a dark, foreboding, and devastating character who knows all too well what’s in store for the characters around him. In it, I felt powerful! I’ve had bespoke pieces created for me before and since, but this one I get to keep. This one was made with love by a friend. This one captures a moment, a sensation that one doesn’t often get to experience.
Being so close to the creation of, the wearing of, and the character of such a piece is an artist’s dream. I’m so grateful to have it in my life.
Jacob
My name is Jacob Velasquez, and driven by a commitment to truth and justice, I pursue philosophy as a way of life. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this pursuit has had an influence on my choice of clothing. I'm wearing what I regularly wear when I'm at work, when I'm visiting relatives, when I shop for groceries, and when I go almost anywhere. I'm in a dark-colored t-shirt and an old pair of jeans. I'm wearing sneakers and a baseball cap, which is turned to the side. My clothing choices are due to my tendency to devalue clothes. For example, I think the mainstream conception of "professional attire" improperly values certain types of attire over others, so I willfully oppose it by wearing my usual attire in professional settings. Clothing, of course, has value as a tool for personal empowerment and self-expression, such as when it's worn to represent cultural identity or to highlight favorite sports teams. But just as it can be used to empower and express oneself, it can be used to oppress and marginalize, such as when clothing standards associated with a profession, with a gender, or with something else perpetuate problematic power dynamics between social classes, genders, and other groups. These and other thoughts have contributed to my having a diminished view of the importance of clothing.
Lesley
My name is Lesley Eide Gale, and I am wearing a bunad costume, the traditional Norwegian dress for special occasions, such as weddings, baptisms, confirmations, and holidays, including Christmas and Syttende mai, Seventeenth of May, also known as National Day, which celebrates Norway’s liberation from Sweden in 1905.
Upon gaining their independence from nearby countries over the centuries, Norwegians established their national identity by adopting the dress of their ancestors with specific designs and colors used in each local region. There are bunads for both men and women, but in my experience, I see very few men adorned in puffy white shirts and decorated vests. Young people often receive their bunads at fourteen years old when they are confirmed; it is expected that they will wear the same bunad the rest of their lives. Generous seams allow for future alterations. In Norway, the bunads are made of wool which keeps wearers warm in the Nordic climate, but my bunad costume is much lighter.
In the past, women wore elaborate headpieces with the bunads, but in recent decades they have opted to wear their bunads with contemporary hairstyles instead. However, the silver jewelry, solje (meaning “shiny”), is still popular. In my photo, I am wearing silver earrings and brooches, some of which were passed down to me. Solje originated as a protection against trolls but later served as a status symbol or family heritage.
I wear my bunad at the yearly Sacramento Scandinavian festivals and the Daughters of Norway national conventions which are held every two years. It connects me to my great-grandparents who left Norway for America in 1903.
Everett
My name is Everett and the uniform I wore was my Kaiser volunteer uniform which includes a maroon vest, black pants, and white button down shirt. This uniform has special meaning because it symbolizes my career and the first step towards building preparation for what I want to do. I wanted to experience what it was like being in a hospital seeing as well as relieve personal stress, by participating in my passion to help people.
Farm
My name is Farm Saephan, and I am wearing a traditional Mien (Yao) outfit, which includes an intricately cross-stitched embroidered pants, a beautifully hand-stitched headpiece, and embroidered jacket adorned with bright red pom-poms made by my mom. The vibrant embroidery and bold red details represent the richness of our culture and the craftsmanship passed down through generations in my family.
I chose this outfit because it reflects a meaningful part of my identity—a culture that is slowly disappearing. Growing up, I didn’t fully appreciate the importance of being Mien, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to understand the richness of our traditions and the value of preserving them. Wearing something she made by hand is a deeply personal way for me to honor both my ancestors and my family, keeping our culture alive through every stitch.
Eleni
Hello, my name is Eleni Goetze and I am wearing a traditional Greek folk dress from the island of Samos. My yiayia’s (grandmother’s) family immigrated from the island of Samos in Greece so I was excited and proud to wear a cultural costume representing a piece of my heritage. The bottom layer of my costume is a cream colored under dress with delicate lace at the sleeves. This is overlaid with a simple but beautiful jade colored, silk dress. Topping those two pieces is a velvet, auburn colored jacket. Accessories include a floral-patterned head scarf, a wide traditional belt with a buckle made of bronze brooches, silver coin earrings, and a gold coin necklace. I borrowed the majority of the outfit from Saint Katherine's Greek Orthodox Church in Elk Grove, where I participated in Greek dance for most of my life. The jacket and belt are pieces of my mother’s Greek dance costume from when she performed as a young adult. Three years ago I stopped Greek dancing when I came out as a transgender woman. It has been difficult for me to grapple with being queer and being a Greek-American simultaneously. Although, I have found ways to hold both aspects of my identity through wearing feminine Greek attire for culture events, such as this photoshoot. It means a lot to me to be able to proudly participate in my culture and share that with other queer people who may feel as though they have lost a connection to their own cultural backgrounds.
Kasiah
Hello, my name is Kasiah G. Wilson or Kas! In this photo the mannequin is wearing my Renaissance Faire outfit! The outfit consists of a low cut “peasant” top, two layered skirts (the top one a ruffled, green skirt & the under one a white lace skirt), a golden deer mask with dangling feathers, and a gold choker with a bone pendant that has a buffalo etched into it! A predominantly thrifted outfit, I managed to spend under a hundred dollars, the two most expensive pieces were my deer mask and my choker; the deer mask was bought from the local costume shop Evangeline’s located in Old Sacramento for around fifty dollars and the choker has mass emotional value as it was given to me by a fellow tribe member of the Nez Perce tribe after the passing of my parents, a reminder of where my people came from as proud hunters and fishermen, and that I have a home in Idaho. I chose to share my RenFaire outfit as it demonstrates one of my happiest memories, filled with good company, beautiful outfits, and some knife throwing with a visually impaired friend! It was a wonderful day, I laughed a lot, got tons of compliments from random strangers, and had a wonderful experience that I wished to share!
Luna
My name is Luna Diaz Velarde and I am wearing a traditional costume that showcases the dance known as “Flor De Piña”, which translates to “Pineapple Flower”, and comes from the region of Tuxtepec in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The dress is better known as a “Huipil” which is embroidered and made with symbolic designs that represent the several indigenous areas in the region as well as made so that every huipil is different in its own way. The costume is accompanied by ribbons in a braided hairstyle the women wear which is different depending on the specific area they are from. These women dance while carrying a pineapple which also represents the nature and fertility of the region. I chose to wear the Flor de Piña costume because the dance comes from one of the largest festivals in Mexico, known as the “Guelaguetza” in Oaxaca, as well as it being one of my favorite regions to perform as a dancer.
Brandy
Hello, my name is Brandy and in my picture I'm wearing a traditional African outfit with the picture of a poem from students that I work with in the Umoja program. I also added a mud cloth item that was from my travels to Ghana recently which is in West Africa. The things I'm wearing in the photo highlights the importance of color, the brightness I saw while in Africa and the reality of that. I am sun and we are sun. Within the poem, offered as a framework in the picture, the outfit altogether provides a view of what may be seen as colorful is also part of my intersecting identities and the ways the world can view me not just as a Black woman, as a veteran, but as someone that is a descendant of those from Africa. In addition to the outfits I offered for the captions, I also included a poem from a student called I Am Sun, and I can speak more about that if we talk in person. Thank you.
Kathryn
Hello. My name is Kathryn Mayo and I am wearing something I would traditionally wear to work or to socialize with friends. I enjoy wearing clothes that would be considered to be flamboyant and unique, even to work. For me, my clothes symbolize emotional comfort and stability and are something that as an adult I have collected and curated over many years. I see each piece in my wardrobe as I would an element to a composition in a drawing, painting or photograph. As a child, my parents didn’t have much money and as a result I had very few clothes. When they divorced, my parents didn’t have enough resources to allow for me to have clothes at both of their houses, so I took the few clothes I had back and forth from each house in either a paper grocery bag or a plastic garbage bag. I never felt comfortable in those clothes and longed to feel more authentic and at peace. I think, mostly due to this experience, I see my clothes as symbolic of stability. I am free to choose clothes that make me feel powerful, comfortable and whole. Ultimately, my clothes are unique treasures, meant to be loved and cared for. Some pieces I have had for almost 30 years and as an adult, I have made a commitment to only buy and wear pre-owned or vintage clothes. I use my clothes as an extension of my personality and feel that I can sometimes better express myself through my choice of clothing than with my own words. I’ve chosen to capture myself with a plastic garbage bag of clothes to symbolize the foundational experience of having very little clothes in my life and very little choice in how I was able to represent myself with clothes. Its presence is a constant reminder for me to be thankful for my own stability and power of choice.
Anastasia and Janna
My name is Anastasia and I am posing with my daughter, Janna, who is wearing a reproduction of a traditional dress worn in the 46 villages of the Zagori region of northwestern Greece. This special ensemble was hand sewn for me by my Greek immigrant mother thirty years ago when I belonged to a dance group based in Stockton and participated in Greek folk dance competitions. The dress is a rich purple brocade with a regal feather and leaf motif worn beneath a sigouni or flokata - a long, sleeveless black woolen coat edged in red trim and cordage, ornately embroidered with two rows of coins sewn on either side of the opening. The black satin apron with a rose and daisy motif was also hand embroidered by my mother and is cinched at the waist by a large and intricate metal belt buckle. Common to many regions of Greece, the hair is covered by a madili or headscarf. This ensemble is a reproduction of traditional dress that would have been worn over one hundred years ago, and so it is not what some would call “authentic” in terms of its vintage, origin or materials. Nor is it worn every day as part of someone’s lived experience, instead, it was created specifically for dance performances. It is a good representation, however, so much so that it won a best costume award when presented at a Greek folk dance competition. For me, what makes this outfit most special is that I can remember watching my mom sew and embroider, her hands moving deftly over the fabric, her dedication and long hours in the striking red pattern of the coat. As a performer, I wore this costume with great pride and it gives me joy to see my daughter don this family heirloom and remember our Greek roots.
Salina
Salina is wearing a long red satin wedding gown with floor length red lace veil. Caption pending.
Our sincere gratitude to our students and colleagues for sharing their special clothing and accessories. For more information about this project, or if you are interested in sharing your story for ADORN 2.0 in Fall 2025, please contact Anastasia Panagakos at panagaa@crc.losrios.edu.
Photo ©2025 Kathryn Mayo
Take a Deeper Dive
Inspiration and Resources
Read about the artists, festivals, and fiber art resources that inspired ADORN.
