{"id":7519,"global_id":"portlandartmuseum.org?id=7519","global_id_lineage":["portlandartmuseum.org?id=7519"],"author":"15","status":"publish","date":"2023-09-21 11:00:37","date_utc":"2023-09-21 18:00:37","modified":"2024-07-24 17:26:26","modified_utc":"2024-07-25 00:26:26","url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/event\/contemporary-native-photographers-and-the-edward-curtis-legacy\/","rest_url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/events\/7519","title":"Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy","description":"

Zig Jackson, Wendy Red Star, Will Wilson<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This major exhibition features contemporary photographs by Native American photographers Zig Jackson, Wendy Red Star, and Will Wilson in dialogue with photographs from Edward Sheriff Curtis\u2019 renowned body of work The North American Indian<\/em>. This timely exhibition and associated educational programming will ask visitors to consider Curtis\u2019 continuing influence on the interpretation of Native American culture while highlighting contemporary reactions to his complex role within the history of representation of indigenous peoples. Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy: Zig Jackson, Wendy Red Star, Will Wilson <\/em>will feature multiple volumes from the groundbreaking publication The North American Indian<\/em>. Funded by financier and philanthropist J.P. Morgan, the 20-book set was published in a limited edition between 1907 and 1930. Curtis\u2019 magnum opus<\/em> charts the cultural practices, languages, and traditions of more than eighty Native American tribes. Over 1,500 photogravures illustrate the book volumes, and the portfolios hold an additional 700 large-scale images. Rich both for its artistry and historical content, The North American Indian <\/em>is considered one of the most significant non-indigenous records of Native American culture ever produced, and the Museum possesses a complete set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Edward
Edward Curtis, Black Eagle, Nez Perc\u00e9<\/strong>, 1911, photogravure, from The North American Indian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Curtis, a non-Native who believed that Native Americans were a \u201cvanishing race,\u201d produced a meaningful yet romanticized record of tribal life at the turn of the twentieth century. The photographs he included in The North American Indian <\/em>document significant aspects of daily life and material culture and encourage nostalgia for societies under threat of elimination. This beautiful but often idealized representation of Native culture has elicited both praise and scrutiny, as many photographs were posed and manipulated in order to eliminate signs of modern life and create the artifice of a pre-European snapshot in time. Yet, because of Curtis\u2019 thorough documentation, some present-day tribal members utilize The North American Indian<\/em> to identify ancestors and cultural objects critical to their histories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the current, rich dialogues surrounding Curtis\u2019 photographs, the exhibition will showcase contemporary portraiture by Native American photographers alongside Curtis\u2019 work. In juxtaposing a non-Native with Native perspectives, the exhibition asks audiences to think critically about the portrayal of Native experience through photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zig Jackson (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, b. 1957), is also known as Rising Buffalo. A graduate of the University of New Mexico and the San Francisco Art Institute, he was the first Native American photographer to enter the Library of Congress\u2019 distinguished photography collection. Jackson explores the ways in which popular American culture continues to perpetuate the myth of the \u201cNoble Savage.\u201d He works to dismantle stereotypes and paternal modes of thinking, drawing attention to the power relationship between photographers and their subjects in series including Indian Photographing Tourist Photographing Indian<\/em>, and Indian Photographing Tourist Photographing Sacred Sites<\/em>, which are both amusing and painful in their depiction of non-Natives who continue to treat Native Americans as exotic subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photograph
Wendy Red Star, Peelatchiwaaxp\u00e1ash\/Medicine Crow (Raven)<\/strong>, 1880, Artist-manipulated digitally reproduced photograph by C.M. (Charles Milton) Bell, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Portland-based artist Wendy Red Star (Apsa\u2019alooke, b. 1981), studied sculpture at Montana State University and earned her MFA from UCLA. Raised on the Crow reservation in south-central Montana, her multimedia works explore the intersections of traditional Native American culture and contemporary society. Peelatchiwaaxp\u00e1ash\/ Medicine Crow (Raven) & the 1880 Crow Peace Delegation <\/em>(2015), a recent Museum acquisition, will be on display in Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy<\/em>. Red Star\u2019s reinterpretation of a famous historical photograph of Crow Nation officials during a visit to Washington, D.C., questions the original uses of representational photographs of Native Americans by individuals such as Curtis while acknowledging their continued circulation in contemporary popular culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sepia
Will Wilson, William Wilson, Citizen of the Navajo Nation, Trans-Customary Din\u00e9 Artist<\/strong>, 2012, from the series Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange. Courtesy of the artist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Will Wilson (Din\u00e9, b. 1969) studied photography at Oberlin College and the University of New Mexico. His project The Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange <\/em>engages directly with Curtis\u2019 photographic legacy by replacing the dominant, twentieth-century, non-Native perspective with a twenty-first century, indigenous viewpoint. His subjects actively participate in the photographic portrait process by including significant objects of their own choosing, actively reinserting personal voices and indigenous authority to the portraits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organized by the Portland Art Museum and co-curated by Deana Dartt, Ph.D., Curator of Native American Art, and Julia Dolan, Ph.D., The Minor White Curator of Photography.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\t<\/lite-youtube>\n\t
Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy – Curator Interviews<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\t<\/lite-youtube>\n\t
Zig Jackson – Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Will Wilson – Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Wendy Red Star – Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Acknowledgments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Major Sponsors: Ameriprise Financial<\/a> and Columbia Threadneedle<\/a>, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Brot and Mary Bishop, The Kinsman Foundation, Pat and Trudy Ritz, Nani S. Warren \/ The Swigert Warren Foundation, and Jim and Susan Winkler; Sponsors: Kathryn Bunn, Beverly Terry, Grace Serbu, Angela and Rex Snow, Judith Wyss, and Anonymous; Supporters: Kohnstamm Family Foundation, Native American Art Council of the Portland Art Museum, Photography Council of the Portland Art Museum, Yale Popowich, MD, and Tina Skouras, Travel Portland<\/a>, Ray and Jean Auel, and Kathleen Lewis; Education Supporters: Selby and Doug Key, and Linda and Scott Andrews.<\/em><\/p>","excerpt":"","slug":"contemporary-native-photographers-and-the-edward-curtis-legacy","image":{"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/ZigJackson_Untitled_Entering_Zigs_Reservation_web2.jpeg","id":7524,"extension":"jpeg","width":563,"height":393,"filesize":66167,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"width":270,"height":270,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":21171,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/ZigJackson_Untitled_Entering_Zigs_Reservation_web2-270x270.jpeg"},"small":{"width":375,"height":393,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":43756,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/ZigJackson_Untitled_Entering_Zigs_Reservation_web2-375x393.jpeg"}}},"all_day":true,"start_date":"2016-02-16 00:00:00","start_date_details":{"year":"2016","month":"02","day":"16","hour":"00","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"end_date":"2016-05-08 23:59:59","end_date_details":{"year":"2016","month":"05","day":"08","hour":"23","minutes":"59","seconds":"59"},"utc_start_date":"2016-02-16 08:00:00","utc_start_date_details":{"year":"2016","month":"02","day":"16","hour":"08","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"utc_end_date":"2016-05-09 06:59:59","utc_end_date_details":{"year":"2016","month":"05","day":"09","hour":"06","minutes":"59","seconds":"59"},"timezone":"America\/Vancouver","timezone_abbr":"","cost":"","cost_details":{"currency_symbol":"$","currency_code":"USD","currency_position":"prefix","values":[]},"website":"","show_map":false,"show_map_link":false,"hide_from_listings":false,"sticky":false,"featured":false,"categories":[{"name":"Exhibitions","slug":"exhibitions","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":17,"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","description":"","parent":0,"count":201,"filter":"raw","id":17,"urls":{"self":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories\/17","collection":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories"}}],"tags":[],"venue":{"id":290,"author":"1","status":"publish","date":"2023-03-28 10:28:29","date_utc":"2023-03-28 17:28:29","modified":"2024-03-07 10:38:06","modified_utc":"2024-03-07 18:38:06","url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/venue\/portland-art-museum\/","venue":"Portland Art Museum","description":"

The Museum is conveniently located on the historic Park Blocks in the center of downtown Portland, which is easy to get around by public transit or on foot. The Portland Business Alliance has installed way-finding signs which direct you to the cultural district, where the Museum is located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is generally plenty of street parking surrounding the Museum. These spaces range from 1 \u2013 4 hours and can be paid for using a credit card or the Parking Kitty app<\/a>. There are also surface parking lots, and parking garages within 1 \u2013 4 blocks of the Museum. The closest surface lot is located at SW Main St. between SW 10th Ave. and Park Ave, and there are dedicated accessible and van accessible spaces. This lot accepts credit card or the Reef app<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public transit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Getting to get to the Museum by public transportation is straightforward and economical. The bus and streetcar travel directly past the Museum, and the MAX light rail has a stop only four blocks away.\u00a0TriMet\u2019s Trip Planner<\/a>\u00a0gives you step-by-step travel directions from your location by bus, light rail, or streetcar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n