THURSDAY JULY 7, 2022
Life is good on the mountain. I was in the studio early today. The light is so beautiful in the early morning here. I have a 10’ x 10’ (3 x 3m) window that faces north. I use that opening to make these flora images.
I was in the mood to listen to something interesting and powerful. Jeanne and I just re-watched “Smoke Signals” (a great film) and Robbie Robertson had a song in it. It reminded me that 30 years ago, we picked up his album, “Music for the Native Americans” (Coyote Dance linked below). So I started playing that as I prepared some glass for making negatives.
I remembered a book we picked up around that same time. It’s called, “The Native Americans An Illustrated History”. I grabbed it out of my library and opened it up. The first thing I saw was this paper with my handwriting on it.
I really like the second paragraph, it said,
“What do we do with this history? I say we embrace it, study it, wrestle with it and transform it into a weapon for the human spirit, one that will enlarge our sense of empathy, and responsibility, alleviate human suffering and strengthen our moral resolve.”
It was like I was meant to see this almost 30 years later working on this project now. It’s powerful to me. I’m glad I wrote the words down. I have no idea where they came from but I know these issues have been on my mind for a long time.
CONCEPT OF THE WORK?
How do you approach a body of work? What considerations do you make? I’ve recently been writing a lot about how to make this project authentic while still making it accessible and interesting. Sometimes, if we’re not careful, we can get too deep into the “weeds” and lose people. In other words, it’s important we translate the esoteric stuff into plain, understandable language. I’ve always said that I need to explain my intentions so that an elementary school student can understand them. At the very least, the basic concepts of the work. I’m trying to work that portion out now about this work.
BEAUTY AND TRAGEDY - GOOD AND EVIL
So, what are my intentions? I would start by saying that my primary intention is to keep the history, the people, and the events present and alive. Always be aware that there were people here for thousands of years before the colonizers. They were slaughtered and removed from this land. This needs to be in the consciousness of the viewers. And equally, I want to esteem the Ute/Tabegauche peoples, their land, their plants, and their wildlife. They are here, alive and living their lives. My goal is to make beautiful and interesting work that accomplishes both of these objectives. It’s a battle of beauty and tragedy. Good and evil. Those are the ideas that I want the narrative to ride on.
I recently had a long conversation with a friend who happens to be a native and an artist/educator. I reached out to him because I was concerned about my approach to this work and wanted to hear his perspective. It was a valuable conversation. He gave me a lot of good advice. And I was happy to hear that he thought it was good that I was making the work. My big takeaway from the conversation was to try to involve the Tabegauche members in some way. I’m not sure what that will be, but I'll try to make it happen. I’m going to contact the Ute Indian Museum and try to start a dialogue about what I’m doing.
I’m always cautious about treading in territory that I shouldn’t be in - making work that I have no business making. I feel that we’ve (the United States) done enough damage. We’ve caused tremendous suffering and created loss beyond comprehension. I don’t need to appropriate their culture and give romantic views of “the Indians”.
I still struggle with white men exploiting indigenous people through “art”. I struggle with living on indigenous, stolen land, too. I’m very aware of my privilege that way. I know what’s been done and I know it’s over and there’s nothing we can do to change the past. However, I don’t want to be part of the continual exploitation of indigenous peoples or any people. I want to be an asset, not a liability in this context. I’m very aware of who I am and what I’m doing. That’s why I constantly examine myself. I’m a big believer in the Socratic method. Critical thinking and being aware, or conscious of the context in which you are working is very important. This type of work carries a lot of baggage, there’s a long history that needs unpacking when we address these issues. It’s not simply looking at images and saying if you like them or not.
WHERE DOES THE ART HAPPEN?
Where does the art happen? I’ve had a somewhat unique, or maybe different, perspective on this question for a while. I feel like the photographs, or whatever media, are kind of a residue or leftover of when the art happened. In other words, when I’m making the image, that’s where the art happens. The connection, the emotions, the thoughts, the feelings, all of it in that moment is THE ART! The negatives and prints are the evidence of that experience. In the end, the prints are important, but they are only records of ideas and emotions. They help us understand the bigger picture (no pun intended).
DOES ART HAVE A PURPOSE?
I would encourage you to think about how you approach work. What considerations do you make and why? There’s no question I could simply make “chocolate box” pictures, print them and show them and sell them. That would be simple and a lot easier to do. I’m not considering that approach at all. I really don’t have any commercial concerns. At the end of the day, my biggest concern is making work that embodies the ideas I’ve laid out with the hope that some viewers “get it” and it will have some kind of impact. Just being aware of these things is half of the battle. If art can do that, it’s done its job.
"In the 21st Century, photography is not a stale sight for sore eyes, but the inquiry into what makes something an image. As such, photography is the most essential task of art in the current time."
- Dr. Daniel Rubinstein is the course leader of MA Photography at Central Saint Martins and editor of the Journal Philosophy of Photography.