October 30-January 22, 2023 | Fort Worth, TX

Photographic Voices

Contemporary Indigenous photographers are spotlighted at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

This October, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art presents one of the first major exhibitions to explore the medium of photography through an Indigenous lens. On view from October 30 to January 22, 2023, Speaking with Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography highlights the photography of more than 30 Indigenous artists working today, including prints by Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, Wendy Red Star and Nicholas Galanin; site-responsive installations by Kapulani Landgraf and Jolene Rickard; as well as a new large-scale photo weaving by Sarah Sense, commissioned by the Carter.

“Speaking with Light is rooted in an Indigenous outlook. In simplest form, it recognizes the breadth and vibrancy of photographs made by Indigenous artists today, pointing out the intertwined issues they address about sovereignty, survivance, identity and nationhood,” says John Rohrbach, senior curator of photographs at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Sarah Sense (Choctaw/Chitimacha), Cowgirl, Custer, and Young Impressions, 2018, woven archival inkjet prints on bamboo and rice paper, wax. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2021.8, © Sarah Sense.

The exhibition, which comprises a total of 78 works of photographs, videos, installations and a web component, is co-curated alongside artist and Navajo Nation citizen Will Wilson.

Ryan RedCorn (Osage), Everett Waller (Hominy Whipman), 2021, dye sublimation print on polyester fabric. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2022.2. © Thomas Ryan RedCorn.

“[These are] powerful photographs created by remarkable artists. Vibrant declarations of presence, resistance and joy in the face of settler-colonialism. Nuanced expressions of community framed by family, nation and Indigenous practices of relation. Photography Indigenized—vis-à-vas contemporary Indigenous theory, praxis and process,” says Wilson, who is a trans-customary Diné artist and photography program head at Santa Fe Community College.

Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke), Catalogue Number 1941.30.1, 2019, inkjet print. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2020.166.5. © Wendy Red Star.

The project offers an alternative vision of America, rooted in a diverse range of cultures all connected to their communities and planet. “We highlight Indigenous artists’ powerful and varied investigations of subjugation and belonging with all their blemishes and empowerments,” says Rohrbach.

Zig Jackson (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara), Indian Man on the Bus, Mission District, San Francisco, California, 1994, inkjet print. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2021.7. © Zig Jackson Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, North Dakota.

Wilson adds, “I hope that viewers realize that they are witnessing the transformation of the medium by Indigenous artists. Artists who harness creativity to reconcile traumatic histories, imagine solutions to profound problems and manifest sustainable futures. I also hope viewers are inspired to think critically about what it means to be an American and perhaps to acknowledge Indigenous survivance today.”

October 30-January 22, 2023
Speaking with Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography
Amon Carter Museum of American Art
3501 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107
(817) 738-1933, www.cartermuseum.org