DANS L’OMBRE, 2021

Featuring my friend and fellow indigenous female photographer as the subject is Leah Kolakowski, Keweenaw Bay Ojibwe in traditional jingle dress in downtown Santa Fe at dusk. Shot in the classic style of 1940s and ‘50s American film noir--dubbed for a psychological style of the dark side of American life, Leah portrays a Native woman in peril. Low-key noir lighting is used to convey the unknown and sinister lurking in the shadows, as well as the exposition of her inner feelings of mental and emotional vulnerability. In this photo, the danger that assails Leah creates tension and suspense that we can identify with as Native women all too well. During this period of film noir, Native peoples’ or stories were not portrayed. We have in this instance made the narrative indigenous-centric. What lurks in shadows?

Americana is a series exploring the telling of Native American oral histories known in Native communities but erased from American history in academia and media. The series explores the retelling of history from a Native point of view by utilizing different genres of film that have created an absence of Native representation or casting Natives as villainous or unintelligent and then countering those depictions. The series examines the startling effect of film noir and other stylized techniques to garner an understanding of the audience for the way these depictions are internalized when the "tables are turned," and the Native subjects become the protagonists and the antagonists in the visual narratives become the colonizers. While some are potentially dark or disturbing (they are meant to be), some are celebratory of lived experiences that were erased throughout American history. The artist reflects on how easily Native Americans were portrayed as inferior throughout Americana and the effects those portrayals still have on Native people and lets the audience feel those inequities.

Collections: Tia Collection