Reading: Rhinoceros; Photographing the Past during the Present

Questions and Answers

Identify Terms

1) Identify: Cree (tribe) *

Cree is a Native photographer, who has taken images o the Crow tribe as a Crow insider. Cree reminds us of the important topics hidden behind an image.

2) Identify: Crow (tribe) *

The tribe that adopted Cree and allowed him to document their culture. The Crow Reservation was a hub of activ-

ity for outsiders, non-Native researchers, ethnologists, anthropologists, and artists alike o.iho so.rght to learn more about the traditions and cultures of the Crow that they feared would soon be lost to acculturation. 

3) Identify: Gerald McMaster *

Notes that enforcing this sudden transition was ask- ing the impossible: "lt had taken centuries for Europeans to develop in this direction, but Native peoples were expected to change overnight."

4) Identify: Vine Deloria, Jr. *

Standing Rock Sioux scholar, who suggests that Curtis's images are like a movie rather than a historical event.

5) Identify: George P. Horse Capture *

A Gros Venture native who states that "Real Indians are extremely grateful to see what their ancestors looked like or what they did". Curtis has photographed George's great grandfather.

6) Identify: Lucy Lippard *

Explained the things Cutis would do to gain criticism. Curtis altered the image and brought props for the tribes.

7) Identify: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith *

A Flathead-Cree-Shoshone who explains that the natives can not identify with the image of these Government surveyors, priests, tourists, and white photographers.

8) Define: patronage *

1.  The financial support or business provided to a store, hotel, or the like, by customers, clients, or paying guests.

2.  The position, encouragement, influence, or support of a patron, as toward an artist, institution, etc.

ANALYSIS

1) The text compares the work of Edward S. Curtis and Richard Throssel; how many photographs of Native peoples did each photographer take and what was the basic underlying goal of each photographer? *

Curtis documented more than eighty Native tribes during a thirty-year span from the position of an outsider, he portrays  Native people as un- touched by white society: before encroachment, acculturation, and reservations. 

Richard Throssel took more than one thousand images of the Crow tribe, he reminds us of the im- portance today of looking at the social conditions, the politics, the funding, and the motives that hide behind the images.

2) How do you think the two photographers' different methods of distributing their work affected their level of individual success? Do you think there are any other factors that affected the success of each? *

Throssel, began photographing the Crow by 1904, taking advantage of his unique posi- tion. As a Native person and as an adopted member of the Crow, Throssel gained access to

events, people, and ceremonies of the Crow and other tribes that others would not have been granted permission to attend, let alone photograph. Curtis staged scenes, routinely retouched and faked night skies, storm clouds, and other dramatic iighting effects, With the help of the tribes, he sometimes re-created ceremonies he also carried wigs, "primitive" clothes and other out-of-date trappings.

3) Patronage often plays an important role in shaping the work of an artist. Do you think there is a distinction between an artist's patrons and their audience? More specifically, what was the relationship between patron and audience for both Curtis and Throssel? *

I believe there is a distinction, the artist's audience will be pleased of what the artist makes while the patrons push for something more specific from the artist. For Throssel, people enjoyed his images but because he knew that the white tourists and the people who purchased his images would not purchase more realistic images, he sold images in the "Curtis mold." Sane goes for Curtis, he'd alter the image if it meant he would receive more money from a specific crowd.

4) Both Curtis and Throssel staged, or otherwise intentionally shaped, the content of some of their photographs; identify two ways that each photographer did this, and explain why they did so. *

Curtis staged scenes, routinely retouched and faked night skies, storm clouds, and other dramatic lighting effects, he also had the natives re-create ceremonies in "primitive" clothing. Curtis had a large paying audience. 

Throssel's series of thirty-nine photographs, Western Classics from the Land of the Indian, focus upon a nostalgic look at Crow life. Throssel was well aware that a non-Native audience sought out these types of images, and he provided a set of images that followed Curtis's mold: dramatic images of a "vanishing" culture, retouched photographs, and scenes that ignored reservation life and signs of industrialization.

5) Before the Rhinoceros presentation and this reading, had you considered photography to be a trustworthy documentary medium? Why or why not? What about documentary films (documentaries)? *

Before all this I believed that photography was trustworthy, I thought that a photo is how we would see it with our eyes. It's what happened before the picture was taken that is important. I am a person who really enjoys animal documentaries and I would be very disappointed to find out if some of that information was false just to please an audience.

6) In the last reading response, many of you seemed to question the trustworthiness of various media sources. Had you previously extended this distrust to social media platforms used almost exclusively for the sharing of images? *

There are a lot of people on social media who only do it for attention so I wouldn't doubt that, if I see something news worthy or that catches my attention I tend to research it further than to believe the primary source.

7) The text lists several ways different tribes reacted to the presence of photographers, or to photography itself. Please describe one, then consider: 1) what stereotypes you may have heard regarding Native peoples and photography, and 2) your own relationship to photography. How comfortable are you with being photographed, and why? What does your comfort level say about your role or status in society, if anything? *

Many Native tribes and individuals resisted the camera, some individuals, such as the Oglala Lakota warrior CrazyHorse, refused to allow his photograph to be taken; many others believed that the camera was a "shadow catcher" and was to be avoided at all costs.

1) I've never heard of any stereotypes that has to do with natives and photos so this is the first.

2) I personally dislike being photographed, I do not like how I look and I have to be in a photo than I do some kind of a silly face.

8) What did you learn from this text that was most intriguing to you? What was most appalling? *

I thought it was interesting how photography back then had such a big influence on people. What was appalling to me were these staged scenes and re-creations.

9) The title of this chapter is "Photographing the Past during the Present"; now that you've read the chapter, please analyze the title--is it truly possible to photograph the past during the present? If so, how? If not, why not? *

It is possible, we have the technology to alter the look of the photo and we could stage a scene we would need  models that look similar to the people of the specific time you are trying to take and just give them the props from that time, movies do it when it comes to old western films or ancient rome films.

Commentary

Now that you've watched the two videos, select one to discuss: in what way does the artist's work address the legacy of Curtis' images? What does the artist's work do to present authentic, contemporary Native American culture? How does the artist's use of photography draw upon the medium's unique qualities in the creation of their work? *

Wendy Red Star is a member of the Crow tribe, she got some of Curtis' images of crow men and she cut the men out only leaving the background. The men's photos have been commercialized and she wanted to give them back their power. This artists focused a lot on their traditional clothing and the color of their clothing. She asked Crow women to send her photos of them in their traditional wear and Wendy would then post it up on a map. Wendy then go photos that Curtis had of Crow women and children in their traditional clothing and she edited so that people (guests) could add back the color.