infinity-eyes

"Grandmother"

Out of her own body she pushed
silver thread, light, air
and carried it carefully on the dark, flying
where nothing moved.

Out of her body she extruded
shining wire, life, and wove the light
on the void.

From beyond time,
beyond oak trees and bright clear water flow,
she was given the work of weaving the strands
into creation, and the gift of having created,
to disappear.

After her,
the women and the men, weave blankets into tales of life
memories of light and ladders,
infinity-eyes, and rain.
After her I sit on my laddered rain-bearing rug
and mend the tear with string.

~Paula Gunn Allen-Laguna/Sioux/Lebanese

They say bad artists copy, and good artists steal. And that it’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them too. One of my assignments for a portrait class I am taking is to make a photograph using a model playing a character, so I decided to try my hand at stealing well.

My grandma has a huge photograph of a Native American chief by Edward S. Curtis in her dining room. Her house is a log cabin that my father helped build when he was younger than I am. I love being in her house. I love that photograph because it reminds me of her, and her wisdom, and all the life she has seen in all of years.

It was around Columbus Day and I couldn’t get that image of the Native American chief out of my head, and it made me sad that there was no day for him and his culture.

I asked Shannon to play a Native American woman for my project because she actually is part Native American. I wanted to bring alive the idea of a woman who is timeless and a landscape that is untouched. Obviously if you have read this blog at all you know one of my biggest inspirations is strong women, I loved this quote " Standing Bear spoke with regard to his mother, PrettyFace:“…in her humble way, she helped to make the history of her race. For it is the mothers, not her warriors, who create a people and guide her destiny.”

Also Being from the Midwest, I have fallen in love with this landscape and how it’s always changing. I could never move anywhere where the seasons didn’t change after living here, there is so much to learn from the weather.  

I think the Native Americans were right all along, there is so much beauty in our landscape worth respecting and honoring and when we live in homogenized suburbs it’s easy to forget that.

So as my quiet protest to Columbus day, I shot this series.