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First Americans
Portraits made with, not about
ABOUT THIS WORK
The first thing to know: these portraits were made with the sitters, not about them. Every dancer signed the release, and several of them use these images to promote their own performances and recordings. That fact matters more to me than anything else on this page.
I started here with wet plate, and stopped. My first tintypes of Native dancers looked like Edward Curtis — and Curtis already said everything an outsider can say on that ground. So the work went where the sitters and I took it instead.
The dancers are from Jemez Pueblo, Oklahoma and Hopi. Some of this work now lives in public and private collections. Each images is a very limited — when a piece sells, it's gone, and the dance goes on without it.
Inquire about a piece when available →
ROOM FOUR
Buffalo Dancer ONE OF ONE
My Dreams Take Fight, Jemez Pueblo ONE OF ONE
A New Dawn ONE OF ONE
To Dance is to Pray ONE OF ONE
Hopi Maiden ONE OF ONE
Susan Hudson, Dine STORYTELLER QUILTER
If one of these stops you, click below to find out more
DISCUSS A PIECE WITH KEVIN→
SIGN THE GUEST BOOK
Tell me what stopped you.
A line, a word, a memory the piece knocked loose. Email is optional — this isn't a mailing-list trap.