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Native American Portraits: Points of Inquiry. curated by Daniel kosharek, Diane bird, and Andrew Smith. Developed by the museum of new mexico. opened at the new mexico history museum, may 18-november 4, 2012, and appeared in expanded format at the museum of indian Arts and culture, Santa Fe, nm, February 16, 2014-January 5, 2015.
Native American Portraits: Points of Inquiry, an exhibit of more than 50 historical images of American indians and about a dozen contemporary photographs by native American photographers, seeks to illustrate "a nation's changing attitudes towards native peoples" and the way contemporary native photographers "explore, reclaim and recontextualize" historic portraiture. in a small space, the exhibit covers a century and a half of photographic documentation of native Americans. many of the vintage prints are rarely displayed, so it is a treat to be able to see the originals.
The exhibit was organized by the museum of new mexico and first opened at the new mexico history museum in 2012. it was curated by Daniel kosharek, photo archivist at the museum of new mexico's palace of the governors, archivist Diane bird (Santo Domingo pueblo) of the museum of indian Arts and culture (miAc), and Andrew Smith of the Andrew Smith gallery in Santa Fe. The miAc expanded the exhibit to include contemporary photographs by native photographers, as well as scanned images contributed by community members.
At miAc, Points of Inquiry is organized into five sections running chronologically from early works to contemporary imagery: early native American photography (1860s-1880s); the idea of beauty (1880s-1930s); tourism, commercialism, restrictions, and bans (the first half of the twentieth century); contemporary Work (1970s-present); and a sidebar community gallery. in the contemporary section at the end of the exhibit, community members are encouraged to bring in personal images to be scanned and displayed.
The exhibit's main introductory label states: "every portrait represents only a moment in time, a fragment of an event, a split second of a person's life and a record of the photographer's perspective on a subject." This is an important statement that one hopes every viewer considers when looking at historic photographs such as these that have shaped the way mainstream society has thought about indians. each section has one large overview label, and caption labels...
