Thread by @NativeApprops

ᏏᏲ @CantorArts, @Stanford alum/ former Cantor intern (2006?) here. I helped redo your Native gallery. I think my name is on the wall still. Anyway. This is a bad tweet and here’s why.
(There are lots of Native folks in your mentions saying this too but just my two cents)

Curtis has a complicated and painful legacy in Native communities. He set out to capture what he termed “the vanishing race,” believing that Native folks were going extinct and needed to be documented before their disappearance.

But he also had very strong beliefs about what constituted a “real” Native person, and would choose costumes, poses, and locations to capture his stereotype-laden aesthetic. He would mix regalia from tribes and physically manipulated negatives to erase signs of “modernity.”

His impact was and is immense. His photos have been reproduced on everything from coffee table books to ikea wall hangings, and many, many people throughout the world think of his sepia-toned historic photos when they think of “real” Natives. But they were not genuine captures.

I say “complicated” because there is some power for contemporary Native folks to be able to look into the eyes of our ancestors and see things like basket designs or beadwork. But to me that value is limited compared to the ways his work came to stand in for “authenticity.”

So when you tweet a laudatory tweet (w/a lowercase “i” on Indigenous), without any nod to the fact his work is harmful, it tells the Native community on campus that this is the type of Native representation you support—past tense, static, stereotypes made by outsiders.

I haven’t been to the museum in yrs, but I think(?) the Native gallery is the same as it was when I helped with the redesign over a decade ago. Which says something. There are tons of amazing contemporary Native photographers you could feature (both on twitter & in the gallery).

(I’d just note to make sure to let them stand on their own merits and not position them as “speaking back to Curtis” which is becoming a tired trope in itself)

<pause here to go get my laptop so I can better tweet about some of the incredible Native photogs I know>

First up, my #Allmyrelationspodcast co-host @matikawilbur. For the past 6 year she's been on the road photographing all the tribes in the US with her @Project_562, criss-crossing turtle island and taking thousands of photos. project562.com

@matikawilbur @Project_562 Then I love love Will Wilson's CIPX project, which speaks directly to Curtis. He uses the same large format camera Curtis used, but flips the script, allowing the subjects to choose their clothes and pose, and gives them the actual tintype at the end. willwilson.photoshelter.com/index

@matikawilbur @Project_562 Osage graphic designer and photographer @ryanredcorn does beautiful portraiture work showing the power of contemporary Native communities, especially women. newsmaven.io/indiancountryt…

@matikawilbur @Project_562 @ryanredcorn Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) does breathtaking large scale work that uses digital tools to create these surreal, gorgeous scenes of Native life that speak to origin stories, climate change, identity, and all kinds of stories. cararomerophotography.com/home

@matikawilbur @Project_562 @ryanredcorn Kali Spitzer (Kaska Dene) documents Native life in the North in beautiful and intimate ways, and also works in tintypes and the CIPX project with Will Wilson. kalispitzer.photoshelter.com/portfolio/G000…

Spitzer's work is also the basis for this powerful collaboration with Cannupa Hanksa Luger called "Sister," which draws attention to #MMIW. newsmaven.io/indiancountryt…

Because of this erasure of Native perspectives in photography, @ntvsphotograph is a fantastic resource and has growing collection/database as well. All of their database is available for use by photo editors, creative directors, etc. nativesphotograph.com

@ntvsphotograph Huge shoutout to @osagemuseumnerd, who is the first Native art curator at the @HoodMuseum at Dartmouth. She did an awesome talk this week that got me thinking about all of this. They have some amazing Native exhibitions coming up, including one featuring the Spitzer/Luger collab!

@ntvsphotograph @osagemuseumnerd @HoodMuseum And @CantorArts, if you'd like a guest curator for a contemporary Native art show, I would *love* the chance to feature some of these artists and others on campus...I wrote my senior paper for @stanfordccsre on the topic (feat. Curtis) so it would be full circle. :)

@ntvsphotograph @osagemuseumnerd @HoodMuseum @CantorArts @stanfordccsre Also if anyone has more folks they'd like to add in the replies, please do! I have to run to home depot for a dimmer switch because #adulting