Week 37 - 2019
Edward S. Curtis, Sioux Chiefs, ca 1905. Belongs to the Preus museum collection.
Chiefs on horseback
The American photographer Edward S. Curtis thought it was essential to retain the knowledge of a culture considered soon-to-be lost. With the slogan «Kill the Indian», and «Save the Man» American politics were shaped by ideas of assimilation at the end of the 1800s. Religious rituals were forbidden. Nevertheless, the traditional ceremonies and dances were carried onto the next generation in secret. Through text, sound, film and still-pictures Curtis wanted to narrate the ways of life amongst different tribes; like it was before the arrival of “the white man”. Subsequently, it has come to light that multiple motifs were staged and recreated for the photographer, and the traces of modern life were left out deliberately. This resulted in a lot of criticism and it stripped Curtis of ever being recognised as an ethnographic photographer.
In case you wondered: The word «Indian» was taken out of the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia in 2017, where it is defined as «a normal, but misleading term for the native peoples of America».