Unbroken: Indigenous Peoples Today

The Three Stages of a Native Sinew Bowstring

Sinew is a tough fibrous tendon found in mammals that usually connects muscles and ligaments to bone. Many Native cultures use sinew taken from the backs of deer legs to create long, reliable bowstrings.

This photograph shows the three stages of the process. First, the sinew is cut away from the deer carcass and is dried in the sun. As it dries, the sinew changes color from white to yellow and becomes resilient and jerky-like. After this the dried sinew fibers are peeled apart, straightened, and reintroduced to water in order to make them flexible. In the final step, the fibers are then braided back together and dried once more to form a string.

DeersinewbowstringphotographyJasonSinnAmericaDQ UniversityJason SinnJason Sinn PhotographyJason Sinn photographerNative American activismNative American cultureNative American peopleNative American photoNative American photographerNative American photosNative American pictureNative American picturesNative AmericansNorth AmericaNorth American native peopleNorth American nativesactivismamerican indianamerican indian quotesamerican indian rightsamerican indian storiesamerican indiansbeautifulbeautiful peoplebowstringcivil rightscolonialismcraftcraftingcultural portraitcultural portrait photographycultural portraiturecultureculture photographerculture photographyculture portrait photographyethnicethnic rightsethnicityfairfreedomgenocidehonesthonestyhumanhuman rightshumanityindianindian bowindian nationindian reservationindian tribeindiansindigenousindigenous activismindigenous cultureindigenous peopleindigenous people photographyindigenous photographyindigenous portraitinterviewinterviewsjournalismjusticelearnlistenlovemodern native americansmoralmoralitynativenative americannative american genocidenative american indiannative american interviewnative american interviewsnative american journalismnative american movementnative american nationnative american portraitnative american portrait photographynative american quotesnative american reservationnative american rightsnative american societynative american sovereigntynative american storiesnative american tribenative american tribesnative peoplephotophoto interviewphoto storyphotographerphotography interviewpicturepicturesportraitportrait photographerportrait photographyportraiturequotesracerespectsadsovereigntystoriesstorytribaltribetruthunited states