This Does Not Belong To You

“The talent that I have, the voice that I have-even the thoughts-does not belong to me. My Grandfather always said, ‘That belongs to the people.’”- Norman Patrick Brown

I photograph portraits of American Indian leaders, mothers, grandmothers, warriors and relatives and the landscapes where they live in the Black Hills, on the Pine Ridge and Diné/Navajo Reservations in the Four Corners and in Mission Reservations and on Alcatraz Island in California. Like 19th century photographers, I haul a box camera out to Indian Country, but nearly 150 years after the 1868 Treaties with the Navajo and Lakota and 40 years after the A.I.M. takeovers of Alcatraz and Wounded Knee. Unlike Edward Curtis who dressed his subjects in wigs and costumes to reflect his own idea of authentic Indians, I photograph family friends who choose their own clothes and reveal their authenticity on their own terms. The iconic portraits and videos evoke the history of Western Photography but portray the humanity, dignity and diversity of American Indians today who speak directly about their portraits, issues in Indian Country and reservation life in the 21st century 200 years after the Indian Wars.