Controlling Images of Native Americans by Donna Martinez

PHOTOGRAPHS
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PHOTOGRAPHS
This week’s readings are “Controlling Images of Native Americans” by Donna Martinez and “Presence, Significance and Insistence: Photographs in place” by Devorah Romanek and video clip reference of a “Wounded White Warrior Savior Photographer”. The first article “Presence, Significance and Insistence: Photographs in place” explores the conversation on photographs beyond the capacity of the actual picture and its ability to create a literal index then explain the subjective and emotional meaning of the message presented. The article specifies its information in the manner it contemplates various photographs of Native Americans in New Mexico in an analysis where the pictures are not only used as points of reference to the historical and contemporary times but also as an indication of their present lives and an index of their future.
The second article contains aspects of Non-native citizens and instances where they use traditional items and rituals with tribal significance as ways of demonstrating their cultural values of resistance, rebellion and freedom. The article also points out the role of photographs in their fight for freedom and empowerment, stating that photographs create contemporary images of their cultural heritage, the American Indian image. Common themes present in the two articles are cultural identity, cultural misinterpretation, history, fight for freedom and empowerment and the power of photographs in disseminating hidden information.[Martinez, Donna. 2019. Controlling Images of Native Americans. Reference to A “Real” American Indian and "Presence, Significance And Insistence: Photographs In Place".]
The first article expresses how images of Native Americans in New Mexico are displayed and used both within the Native American communities and in the mainstream American society to elucidate the unrepresented concept of the past being the present in the present. The author states that the quality of a photograph is significant because it demonstrates presence inside of absence and when the quality of a photographic image is low, presence in absence is forgotten and alienated in an attempt of weakening or suppressing the inalienable attributes of an image, a cultural identity or an individual, thus denying them and robbing them of their rightful place in the society. The author of the article makes references to knowledgeable texts by famous writers in his explanation of cultural representation of Native Americans in New Mexico and what past photographs entail and communicate about their past and their present ways of lives, the inventions that they have made, their significance in the community, the importance of their insis...