The Edward Curtis Collection in the Library of Congress consists of more than 2,400 silver gelatin photographic prints (for details about why they are called photographic prints, and not photographs, see this page on his technique from the Smithsonian Museum.)They are remarkable for their beauty and technical virtuosity, and as has been discussed on the Network before, they are deeply problematic. Curtis believed that the Indigenous people of North America were disappearing, and his photographs, often retouched and highly staged, reinforced a sentimental fantasy of Native culture.

Curtis, Edward S, photographer. Yuls-Huls-Walking. , ca. 1906. December 19. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2003652708/.

Several contemporary artists deal with the idea of photography as a document or souvenier of a “disappearing” culture, and grapple with Indigenous people’s relationship to photography. What can we learn from this contemporary work that can inform our analysis of Curtis's images? Here's some information about just a few.

Wendy Red Star.

“This country was founded on the eradication of Native people. We were also, paradoxically, used for tourism to promote the expansion of the West. Really what it all boils down to is humanity. I am always trying to show this in my work. We are human beings. For some reason, Native people are represented as eradicated, like in Edward Curtis’s The Vanishing Race (1904) project. It’s worked pretty well. I think people are surprised when they find a Native person because in the consciousness of America it’s like we don’t exist. We are these mythical creatures.” (from an interview with Red Star in https://aperture.org/editorial/wendy-red-star/)

For more about Wendy Red Star

• https://massmoca.org/event/wendy-red-star/
• https://www.arts.gov/stories/magazine/2018/1/women-arts-galvanizing-encouraging-inspiring/wendy-red-star

Wendy Red Star. Walks in the Dark

Will Wilson.

https://willwilson.photoshelter.com/about

Will Wilson's Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX) project confronts the “romanticism, stereotype and “settler’s gaze” in Curtis’s work, couched as documentation.” “My aim is to convene indigenous artists, art professionals and government leaders, as well as the general public, to engage in the performative ritual that is the studio portrait.” Wilson’s work focuses on engaging in studio photography as a dialogue with individuals, rather than having individuals stand in as types who represent entire groups of people.

Nimikii Osawamick, Citizen of the Ojibwe First Nation, Wikwemikong, Manitoulin Island Unceded Reserve. Dancer, Dancing Earth, Indigenous Contemporary Dance Creations. https://willwilson.photoshelter.com/index/G0000oqB5RZyho_g (gallery)

“As an indigenous artist working in the 21st century, employing media that range from historical photographic processes to the randomization and projection of complex visual systems within virtual environments, I am impatient with the way that American culture remains enamored of one particular moment in a photographic exchange between Euro-American and Aboriginal American societies: the decades from 1907 to 1930 when photographer Edward S. Curtis produced his magisterial opus The North American Indian. For many people even today, Native people remain frozen in time in Curtis photos. Other Native artists have produced photographic responses to Curtis’s oeuvre, usually using humor as a catalyst to melt the lacquered romanticism of these stereotypical portraits. I seek to do something different. I intend to resume the documentary mission of Curtis from the standpoint of a 21st century indigenous, trans-customary, cultural practitioner. I want to supplant Curtis’s Settler gaze and the remarkable body of ethnographic material he compiled with a contemporary vision of Native North America.” Will Wilson https://sarweb.org/iarc/native-american-artist-fellowships/2013-artists/will-wilson/ (Includes a video of Wilson discussing his technique.)

For more about Will Wilson:

• https://southwestcontemporary.com/will-wilson/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5wG0kWp7iM (New Mexico PBS)

Rosalie Favell.

Facing the Camera. https://rosaliefavell.com/portfolio/facing-the-camera-complete-series/

“The series I call Facing the Camera is the start of a large document of Indigenous artists. Between the years of 2008 and 2018 and in various locations in Canada, the United States, and Australia, I met over 500 individuals to take their portrait. I am very aware of Indigenous peoples’ very problematic relationship with photography, and how much they have quite rightly viewed the medium with suspicion. The legacy is one of subjugation where the “camera was another weapon in the wars of domination.” Nonetheless, I have received enormous support from my fellow Indigenous artists.”

For more about Rosalie Favell

• https://www.wag.ca/event/rosalie-favell/
• https://www.petroglyphstopixels.com/rosalie-favell/
• https://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/art/gallery_openings/eye-to-eye-rosalie-favells-portraits-of-native-artists/article_543bbb52-c3dd-11e2-8345-001a4bcf6878.html

Matika Wilbur.

Project 562 http://www.project562.com

Created by Matika Wilbur, Project 562 is a multi-year national photography project dedicated to photographing over 562 federally recognized tribes in The United States resulting in an unprecedented repository of imagery and oral histories that accurately portrays contemporary Native Americans.

For more about Matika Wilbur (She's a former teacher!)

• https://lrinspire.com/2018/05/08/edward-s-curtis-again-by-matika-wilbur/ (Wilbur on Curtis)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35sum7Di8NA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2bs1TTc4gk Wilbur’s TedEx talk.

James Luna (1950-2018)

Take a Picture with a Real Indian. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAa69BVwPYg

James Luna’s performance engages the viewer in an act of what he termed “mutual humiliation.” In the performance, Luna invites audience members to “take a picture of a real live Indian.” while he poses on a stage. At the Whitney Museum of Art in 2001, he posed first in a deerskin, then in his street clothes, and finally in his dance regalia. The performance is profoundly unsettling, for Luna as well as for the audience.

More about James Luna;

• https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2018/05/james-luna-and-geraldine-ah-sue-in-conversation/ (excellent interview)
• https://www.artland.com/exhibitions/take-a-picture-with-a-real-indian
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/q-and-a-james-luna-74252076/

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