Jeremy Davis, Nothing Happened Here #10, 2017, giclee print on ultra board, 1/10, 48 x 60 inches
"Through their work these six artists offer insights into the relationships between their traditions as Indigenous members of tribes and nations, and contemporary life. Some celebrate persistence and kinship, while others contend with distressing issues of isolation, poverty, and violence. These artists ask us to consider their complicated realities, their lived experiences as Indigenous people, and their responsibility to honor the lifeways of their communities." Speaking with Light, Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
On Romanticism, an essay by Paul Chatt Smith, author and associate curator at the National Museum of the American Indian from Everything You Know about Indians is Wrong, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.
Speaking with Light Contemporary Indigenous Photography, Denver Art Museum
Historic Interstices of Indigenous Visualities and the Uprooting of Settler Terrains,
First Female Leader in Centuries Returns a Tribal Nation to Its Roots. Lisa Goree took the helm of the Shinnecock Nation in April as the Long Island tribe navigates disputes over burial grounds and projects to build a casino and a gas station. By Corey Kilgannon, NY Times, June 10, 2024
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, UMass Office of the President
Scroll down to become acquainted with the work of the these six artists reflective of Nation. How do the pieces reflect the artists' seeking recognition for Indigenous existence, rights and cultural commitment?
The Artists
Jeremy Dennis
# 1. Jeremy Dennis, photographer, is a Tribal Member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, Southhampton, NY.
Further background Information
Jeremy Dennis Makes a Farce of White Guilt.. By Louis Bury, Hyperallergic, November 22, 2023
Behind the lens: Jeremy Dennis on Nothing Happened Here, Carter ARTicles, Nov. 07, 2022. These works present themes of belonging, reconciliation, decolonization, and invisibility to the viewer from an indigenous lens.
Speaking with Light - Introduction: Darkrooms and Safelights (pg.17 re Jeremy Dennis)
Jeremy Dennis. Speaking with Light at Denver Art Museum, YouTube, 3.07 min.
See work below by Jeremy Dennis
Jeremy Dennis, 2016 - 2017, Nothing Happened... a photo series that explores the violence/non-violence of post-colonial Native American psychology.
"Nothing Happened Here explores the violence/non - violence of postcolonial Native American psychology. Reflecting upon my own experience and observations in my community, the Shinnecock Reservation in Southampton, New York, specifically the burden of the loss of culture through assimilation, omission of our history in school curriculum, and loss of land and economic disadvantage; this series illustrates the shared damaged enthusiasm of living on indigenous lands without rectification. The arrows in each image act as a symbol of everlasting indigenous presence in each scene. The images may be as compelling if the subjects were of indigenous descent, but the decision to use non-native subjects reveals a shared burden. The question remains of how to overcome this troubled past. As we learn of early contact-period history between colonists and indigenous groups, that history sticks with us, and it is difficult not to link current predicament of power, gained or lost, with that important past."- Jeremy Dennis, Artist Statement
Jeremy Dennis, Moshop’s Toe, from the series Stories, Inkjet print, 2017. printed 2020. Amon Carter Musuem of American Art, Fort Worth, TX P2021.11. © Jeremy Dennis
Sky Hopinka
# 2. Sky Hopinka, a member of the Chunk Nation and a descendant of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno people, is a visual artist and film-maker.
Further background information
Sky Hopinka is Tired of Explaining Everything to Non-Natives
Sky Hopinka: Film is the Body The artist reflects on how intergenerational suffering becomes a transgenerational reckoning, and how art can be a bridge. MoMA Film Magazine, June 10, 2022
Sky Hopinka: Songs of the Earth and Road by Holland Cotter, NY Times, Nov. 12, 2020
See work below by Sky Hopinka
Sky Hopinka, still from "Love", 2019. 16 mm to HD video, stereo, color. Total run time 10:15 min.
Breathing Ah ha hey as my dad used to say, he learned it from my great grandfather I imagine. Blue Sky with a good voice, across this water on the other side of the encircling lake. We're not far from there and the direction that they lead us, ahahé. 2020, Inkjet print, etching, 17"h x 17"w, Breathing Collection.
Cara Romero
# 3. Cara Romero, Chemehuevi, is a photographer who is known for her digital photography that examines indigenous life through contemporary lens.
"My photographs are really an attempt to subtly combat one-story narratives." - Cara Romero
Further background information
New to the Collection: Cara Romero's TV Indians, Univ. of Minnesota, November 25, 2020
The World I Wish People Knew: Photographer Cara Romero on Redefining Contemporary Native Art, by Anne Wallentine, Hyperallergic,Jan 6, 2021
Her large-scale photos speak thousands of words about Indigenous communities, identities. By Lisa Deaderick, The San Diego Union Tribune, April 14, 2024.
Cara Romero Captures the Continuity of Indigenous Culture, Hyperallergic, May 1, 2025.
Photographer Cara Romero, IDENTITY Episode, YouTube, 9.37. Dec. 28, 2019
See work below by Cara Romero
Cara Romero, Water Memory. 2015, Inkjet print. Water Memory is part of a triptych by Cara Romero, Water Memories."
"Visually, the photograph was strong, because it could be so many things. It draws out that universal thread of the Great Flood.But I'm also from a tribe that was flooded out of ancestral lands—the Army Corps of Engineers actually forcefully dragged people out of their homes to create Lake Havasu. The oral histories tell of how there were already inches of water in people's homes before they were made to leave. Now Lake Havasu feels haunted—there are homes and floodplains below—and when I submerge myself there, I feel all that water memory". Water Memory is part of a triptych by Cara Romero. Water Memories, Inkjet print. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2021.54. © Cara Romero.
Cara Romero , Evolvers. 2019 Inkjet print Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2021.55. © Cara Romero
What is this quality of aliveness that informs Indigenous thinking, and how does it relate to the environment? The recognition that Indigenous cultures have eloquently embedded observational place-based knowledge in all aspects of our expressive and material culture can inform the readings of photographs like these.”Cara Romero, Evolvers, 2019
Kilii Yuyan
# 4. Kiliii Yuyan, Nanai, Hèzhé, and Chinese American, is a photographer noted for his work revealing the hidden stories of polar regions, wilderness and indigenous communities.
Further background information
Waterbear and Nikon present a Lens on the World with Kiliii Yuyan YouTube, 11 min.
See work below by Kiliii Yuyan
Kiliii Yuyan, Masks of Grief and Joy in the Land of the Yu'pik .This a story about a village on a remote island close to Siberia, where a community-led art therapy project called ‘ Masks of grief and joy’ empowers indigenous Alaskan teens to express their emotions about suicide.
"The village is called Gambell and with a population of around 700, it is one of two towns on Saint Lawrence Island. Saint Lawrence is formally part of Alaska, but it is closer to the Russian mainland than to the rest of Alaska. The traditional communities that live there don’t get many visitors because the strong winds from the Bering Strait often prevent planes from landing, which is also why many Yu’pik never leave during their lifetime." Masks of Grief and Joy in the Land of the Yu' Pik, A series, 2020, Injet print, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P202.41.© Kiliii Yüyan
Kali Spitzer
# 5. Kali Spitzer, Kaska Dena/Jewish from the Yukon and Daylu (Lower Post, British Columbia), is a Canadian indigenous photographer who works in portraiture and photographs cultural practices and ceremonies in her community.
Further background information
Indigenous and Jewish Photographer Kali Spitzer's Work is Rooted in Community. By Chloe Sarbib, November 24, 2021
Illuminating the Plight of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women An exhibition in Toronto's Gardiner Museum was created with the hope of bringing visitors face to face with the issue. By John Hanc, the New York Times, Published Oct. 23, 2019, Updated August 6, 2020
See work below by Kali Spitzer
"Sister" created by Kali Spitzer, a photographer of native descent, is part of a larger work called Every One by Cannupa HanskaLuger, an artist who was raised on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.
"This tintype image of an indigenous woman stares at the camera with an expression that has been called “serene, but resolved...a little mournful, but also resilient.”
Kali Spitzer, Audrey Siegle, Dye coupler print with audio, Owl Song, Amon Carter Museum of American Artm Fort Worth Texas P2021.58. © Kali Spitzer
Kali Spitzer, Honouring Maria, chromogenic print with audio, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2021.59. © Kali Spitzer
"Kali Spitzer collaborated with Audrey Siegl, the sitter, to create this memorial honoring Siegl’s sister, Maria, and all Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit People (#MMIWG2S). They share: “We held space for Maria’s spirit to be with us. Safe spaces for our women are nonexistent . . . unless WE build them . . . With our wonrk we are creating visibility and voice where there has only been silence and oppression.” (Speaking with Light, Denver Art Museum.)
Kapulani Landgraf
# 6. Kapulani Landgraf of O'ahu, Hawaii is a Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiian) artist.
Further background information
Kapulani Landgraf, Smithsonian American Art Museum
See work below by Kapulani Landgraf
"Landgraf, Au aIn 2019, Landgraf made a collection called “ ‘Au’a.” Landgraf's collection is one part of four pieces of the “Honolulu Biennial 2019 works at the Honolulu Museum of Art.” [15]
‘Au’a is a collection of 108 photographic portraits of Native Hawaiians who have made a positive impact on change in Hawaii. “The 108 participants in this 2019 project are artists, activists, friends, community leaders, and academic colleagues.”[16] Written across the participants face and neck is, "I am not American. Landgraf got the idea for the concept in 2012 when she went to the “National Endowment for the Humanities Bridging Cultures Conference,” and saw that there was no Native Hawaiian perspective there. People got up and said their message with the opening being “I am a proud American.” When it was time for Landgraf, she opened by saying “I am not American.” She was met with confusion and others disagreeing.[15] It was not easy for Landgraf to get participants for her project, she was met with refusals.They risked losing their jobs, the politics behind it, and being too close to home for them as well. They feared family, friends, and colleagues would see and not agree with them. The message behind this piece is the, “native Hawaiian people stepped up to disclaim America.” [16 Wikipedia
Kapulani Landgraf (Native HaKapulani Landgraf (Native Hawaiian), Ka Mauna Pololoi (The Right Bait). 2013.
Displays 81 rat traps embellished with the Hawaiian word Lani (Heaven) that have captured U.S. currency and pieces of Native Hawaiian art and culture, each trap symbolizing a cultural element or work by a Native Hawaiian artist that has been incorporated into a Hawaiian-based theme park by the Disney Corporation.