Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Edward Curtis and the Native Light Project

In the Belly of the Bear, Rodrigo, Chickasaw, 2019 (After a photograph by Edward Curtis)
Photograph by Craig Varjabedian for the Native Light Photo Collaboration

We all have the possibility of standing on the shoulders of giants. I am fortunate to be able to possibly stand on the shoulders of the great photographer Edward S. Curtis and the incredible photographs of Native Americans he made. I first encountered his images in a photo history class at the University of Michigan I attended many years ago. I remember being deeply moved by all the Curtis photographs I saw that day. There was something awesome (in its truest sense)—something that is majestic and universally human captured and revealed in them.

I remember being particularly moved by Curtis’ image Bear’s Belly, Arikara, an image of Kúnúh-kanánu, member of an Arikara medicine fraternity wrapped in his sacred bear-skin. There is something about this man emerging from the body of a bear that I find to be miraculous. The story of how Bear’s Belly came to possess this bear skin for his medicine making is a fascinating one and worth reading at the Curtis Legacy Foundation.

Photographer Edward Curtis, self-portrait, 1889

Some years later while making photographs for my Native Light Photo Collaboration, an old bear skin and an incredible person (subject) were both in the studio at the same time. The photograph became a fait accompli—an accomplished fact exquisitely preserved through the lens of my Nikon. My photograph is an homage to the great photographer and one to his dedication to the people he photographed. I am grateful for Curtis’ photographs and the inspiration they provide.

Bear’s Belly, Arikara, 1909
Photograph by Edward S. Curtis for the Native American Indian project

Check out the wonderful digital archive of Edward Curtis’ photographs at Northwestern University.