Matika Wilbur: Native American Photographer

Alex Benjamin

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Thanks for this.

One thing, though. Article says: "Wilbur photographs her subjects on black-and-white film using a method called the Zone System." In itself, it's a weird bit of information to put in this kind of article. What makes it even weirder is the fact that everybody appears in color in the photographs...
 
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BrianShaw

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I found that a bit weird too. But knowing how interviews go and then are translated by a writer who may not know the details of a craft (and don’t double-check)…

Some of the images appear to have been partially colorized. So likely shot in B&W then manipulated.
 

Andrew O'Neill

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She shoots black and white (I believe medium format), and uses the zone system. Obviously colourised, but not sure if she is doing by hand or in PS... I suspect the latter.
 

DonW

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That was s nice article with some great portraits. Thanks.
 

jtk

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Zone System can contribute to color and even digital practices.

Ansel wasn't a player in modern times... Minor remains more significant today in "previsualization" aspect of Zones (the aspect many seem to miss)
 

Sirius Glass

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I am glad someone is doing this. Thanks for posting the article.
 

jtk

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We regularly see the work of many Native American photographers in New Mexico and Arizona.

Happy to see some of the work of this woman, who hails from another part of Native America. I like her exhaustive plans and would like to see her prints.

One of the issues that tires Navajo people (I have friends among them) is that they've been reduced to subjects of anthropology and tourist interest. They're modern Americans who enjoy a unique independent/parallel nationality.
 

gone

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Thank you for posting the article. I read on that website that there are around 574 Federally recognized tribes here in the US. That may indeed be true, but it is nowhere near the actual number of tribes. That 574 is just the tribes that receive Federal money, which is a poor exchange for what they were robbed of, but at least it's something. Doubtful one will find many pictures of the Hopi, they're the spirit keepers of all the gods and demi gods and are not camera friendly, to be sure. You will be escorted off the land if they see that, or maybe even brought before the Elders. These are the lesser things that might happen, I wouldn't do it, period.

Wilma Mankiller was the first woman to serve as chief of he Cherokee Nation, and she was the face most people associate w/ the Tribes. I think there were something like 3,000 total back then, but that surely included all of North and South America, and possibly other continents. Pretty much every year the Tribes would have a Meeting of the Nations in Albuquerque, NM and take over the downtown. It was wonderful, just a great time for everyone.
 

Michel Hardy-Vallée

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jtk said:
One of the issues that tires Navajo people (I have friends among them) is that they've been reduced to subjects of anthropology and tourist interest. They're modern Americans who enjoy a unique independent/parallel nationality.
Click to expand...

I've seen a comparable situation with the Inuit. With respect to the seal hunt in the Arctic region, the EU ban on commercial hunting has hurt them economically. The Union blocked all imports of goods derived from commercial hunting, but it defended itself by including a provision not to condemn "survival hunting" or some comparably silly category that presumes the Inuit's lifestyle fit the europeans' clichés.

Problem is, the Inuit are also doing commercial hunting because that is how they can participate to the economy, and pay for the supplies that are needed for the hunt and so forth. Not recognizing them as modern, independent people and seeing them according to a primitivist logic has real economic consequences.

There's a good NFB doc about the topic here: https://www.onf.ca/film/angry_inuk/
 

MattKing

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BrianShaw

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MattKing said:
Did you mean "sick" or did you mean "snack"?
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Oh dear God... Yes, I meant "snack". Darn phone; no matter how many times I re-read I seem to not see it's changes to my intent. If one wants to eat on a reservation and get sick... I have a recommendation for that also. But this wasn't it.
 

Sirius Glass

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I have read several books about the Navajo [and there were other tribes, too] code breakers. I have been buying rugs and pottery directly from the artists at the pueblos and have gotten to know some of them fairly well. Learning the culture and history of the Native Americans, First Nations, and the Australian Aborigines takes work to get past the tourist fare, and the inaccurate histories so I can learn more about these peoples. The Heard Museum has been helpful, but talking directly with people, building trust one on one that I want to learn is time well spent.
 

jtk

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In my experience the best way to connect is simply to spend time with whoever we spend that time (with me it's been at archery events on rez and in town). Answering questions rather than asking.

If awkward and stiff (and we will be), enjoy the inevitable teasing and jokes. I've had to learn genuine humility.
 
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jtk

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Where do you live? Born there? Who are your people? Military? Where? Vietnam? San Francisco? College? What's your job? Kids? What is retired? Want a taco? Miles Davis? Red or green ( chili)? Got 4wd? How did you get here in that car? ...questions like that.
 
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DREW WILEY

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I see way too many modern Native American portraits, and even events of their own, that look like a John Wayne movie, some dressed up like northeast Iroquois, others like Sioux chieftains, other like what people imagine Apaches looked like, all mixed up, sometimes even on the same person. Sad. The term stereotype says it all. Most of these cultures were near-dead long ago, and now seem to attempt culturally reviving themselves more by what TV Westerns look like than real tradition. Nothing new. Even Edward S. Curtis went around with a big trunk of regalia and promiscuously dressed remaining members of certain tribes around the West with whatever he though would tell a salable visual story. He made some beautiful images, but not many historically accurate ones. Seen it all with my own eyes, growing up alongside native Americans who went all the way from elderly individuals who literally grew up in the Stone Age, to their grandchildren of my generation, who brought in the casino culture, which has pretty much destroyed all their real past. There are some exceptions, including several childhood friends of mine who have opened up a school to keep the native dialect alive along with the cultural memories of their grandparents.
 

jtk

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There are cultural and language classes serving native people in and around reservations and communities in New Mexico and Arizona...universities, junior colleges, and even public schools. New Mexico Power Company subsidized Dine (Navajo) language courses to enhance teamwork. As well as GED courses.
 

jtk

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To a degree I appreciate Drew's perspective, but I think more about the relatively low profile (i.e. invisibility) of native people who live and work all around me. Few often wear historically correct attire ... but sometimes take part in "49s" (big gatherings of dancers, young men and women enjoying each other's company).

Interested people may want to listen to Native America Calling or Singing Wire on many PBS stations.

Casinos are unfortunate in many ways (criminality, addiction etc) but they also contribute massively to community development (e.g. housing, roads, schools).. I don't think many Navajo people are gamblers... the very existence of Navajo casinos was repeatedly voted down before being approved due to financial pressures (poverty of reservations). Opponents argued that gambling fed other bad habits and damage to life balance. Pueblo people aren't especially similar to Navajo people, partially because their recent ancestors decided to tolerate a gambling-friendly church.
 

DREW WILEY

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I have two extended family members who run tribal clinics, but are not native Americans themselves. Yes, having those clinics is something which has made a difference. But the underlying problem is that who constitutes a qualifying tribal member or not in those place has nothing to do with whether they were born there or are even an actual native American, but whether the potentially corrupt (an understatement) tribal bosses decide to include them or not. Sometimes the real Indians get left off the list and non-Indian gangster types do get enlisted for a significant share of the take and benefits.

But in the bigger venues, people come not only to gamble, but for meals and entertainment too, just like in Las Vegas. And one thing they expect is some token "Indian" dances and so forth, and that's where the Indians dress up all mix n' match phony just like in a John Wayne movie, trying to accommodate the stereotypes. The fact is, in that part of the world, true aboriginal attire was next to nothing, or sometimes outright nothing.
 
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BrianShaw

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I went to Morongo Casino last year for everything you mention, except the gambling. I would have enjoyed the pool but it was closed for refurbishment. The only sign of the Morongo tribe were the empty parking spaces reserved for the tribal elders. Other than the location, it was just like going to a more refined Las Vegas. We had a great time and may have had a better time with any kind of contact with the tribe (phony or authentic). If it was photography related that would have been exceptional!
 
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BrianShaw

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At least in the topic actually in discussion, the photographer let the Native American portrait subjects to reflect how THEY wanted to be portrayed. That is perhaps the epitome of authentic
 

DREW WILEY

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There was one time I was really pissed off at myself. As I had done many times before on wildflowerly March days, I went down the deep canyon behind my former ranch and took the steep uphill hike with my 8X10 camera pack to the vertical cliff portion, and then took my "secret ledge" to the flat summit, where I intended to take pictures. While I was shooting, three teenage boys showed up, who evidently themselves knew about that ledge. Turns out it was Senior Ditch Day at the High School, and this is how they were taking it off. But they were horribly thirsty, so I handed them my canteen. Two were white, and the third Indian. He looked very similar to someone I had grown up with, and when I asked, it turned out he was a nephew. Very polite kids. But the Indian teenager had a feather tattooed across his cheek, and, although certainly not an aboriginal custom, would have made a fascinating portrait; and I even had the ideal sheet film along. But I was so interested in who they were, and asking about one of my old childhood friends, and was having such a nice conversation with them, that I totally forgot to about taking their picture. And then they descended back down the ledge. Too late.
 
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BrianShaw

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Too late… and really too bad you missed that shot. Traditional or not, I can see that would-be image in my mind’s eye. It’s a keeper!
 
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