Unbroken: Indigenous Peoples Today

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Beadwork Portrait by Tammie Dupuis, Bitterroot Salish Artist

"I have a love-hate relationship with Edward Curtis (photographer 1868-1952) because so many of his pictures were contrived but some of them are also the only pictures we have of [Native] people. And so in his book, there's a picture of a woman, this Salish woman, and it says ‘Flathead female type.’ I mean she doesn’t even have a name. There’s no acknowledgement. It’s just this specimen. And so I’m beading her to express her in a way to give her some humanity back in a medium that would be Native focused.

"In fact in my last review I had this piece in there and it was interesting because they didn’t really know what to say about it. Because, I mean, beadwork is ubiquitous for Native Americans, and I think there’s this… They don’t want to be racist or say the wrong thing, but they don’t actually know how to talk about it as a medium because it’s always been kept out of fine art.

"It’s kinda one of those things where I wanna get belligerent about it just to force people to not look at Native Americans in a stereotypical sort of way, like 'This is what Native Americans should look like', and force them to realize Native Americans are contemporary.

"I also got pushed into doing western art when I was younger and it never felt right because I just never wanted to glorify the old west. I mean, there’s so many things that are wrong with that idea and I could go on and on about the massacres and the removals to reservations. It feeds into our American exceptionalism idea. The manifest destiny to take over the west, the 'white savior', the great father in Washington D.C. who knows best. Blah, blah… You know, this whole paternal, colonial bullshit narrative. So I’m thinking about how I can fight against that."

Tammie Dupuis native American Bead art Photograsphed Jason Sinn Jason Sinn Jason Sinn Photography activism activism photographer activism photography activism portrait activist activist photographer activist photography american indian american indian photography american indian portrait art photography art studio artist artist portrait artwork bead art bead portrait beading beads bitterroot salish canvas canvas painting colorful colorful art colors creation creation of the earth creative creative photography creative portrait creative portrait photography creative portraiture cultural cultural photographer cultural photography cultural portrait culture culture photographer culture photography culture portrait education eyes face god history indigenous indigenous art indigenous artist indigenous bead art indigenous culture indigenous people indigenous people today indigenous peoples indigenous peoples today indigenous person indigenous photography indigenous portrait photography love memorial native american native american art native american artist native american painter native american painting native american photography native american portrait native american portrait photography native american woman native art native artist native artwork native bead art native culture native portrait native pride native women peace photographer photography photography art photoshoot portrait portrait photographer portrait photography portraits portraiture primordial professional photographer professional photography protest photographer protest photography protest portrait resist resistance tammie dupuis unbroken indigenous peoples today wisdom