By Keri Hayes

Arizona Daily Wildcat

The voices and visions of life's experiences through the eyes of Native American photographers will be heard and seen throughout the next two months in a series of lectures, films, performances and exhibits.

The Group for Photographic Intentions (GPI), a non-profit organization of professional photographers, organized the event, "Praising the Spirit," with the hope of giving a voice to "so-called minorities," said GPI president, Amy Zuckerman.

"Throughout history, African Americans, Latin Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans have not had an opportunity for their voices to be heard as frequently as the mainstream white culture," Zuckerman said. "The white culture is sometimes not so understanding of the different visions of Native Americans, which often results in oppression."

GPI members comprise a unique group of professional photographers with a common interest in working outside of academia and commercialism. The artists chosen to contribute to "Praising the Spirit" reflect this philosophy.

Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, a curator, photographer and writer, has had numerous group exhibitions as well as solo exhibitions in San Francisco and Berkeley. Tsinhnahjinnie describes her photography as a "visual translation of the unspeakable images in my head." Tsinhnahjinnie will speak about her politically centered art in the first lecture of the series on April 7..

Speaking with Tsinhnahjinnie will be Greg Staats, a widely published and commissioned photographer who challenges ethnocentric expectations of traditional Native American subject matter in his work, which depicts human life's experiences.

Carm Little Turtle, a nurse and photographer, describes her work as "down-to-earth and dirty" dealing with humorous politics between men and women. Little Turtle has had one-person exhibits in San Francisco and Los Angeles and is in the collections of the Southwest Museum, the Heard Museum and the Center for Creative Photography. She will speak of her experiences in the second lecture on April 21.

Larry McNeil, a professor of photography at the Institute of American Indian Arts, will speak with Little Turtle. McNeil serves as vice president of the Native Indian Inuit Photographers Association and is included in the collections of the Heard Museum, Princeton University, the Angoon Heritage Center and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

After each of the lectures, the photographers will conduct workshops at local elementary and high schools. GPI hopes to give young people a sense of possibility by providing role models with similar cultural backgrounds, Zuckerman said.

"A lot of kids aren't going to get to go to college," Zuckerman said, "and it's important for them to see self-expression as an option, as something they can make a living from."

"Praising the Spirit" will continue through April with a series of Native American films. A young woman must choose between contemporary and traditional values in her life in "It Starts With a Whisper," airing April 23 along with "Places Not Our Own," a chronicle of the struggles of a dignified Metis family that moves to a small, prejudiced town.

"Navajo Talking Pictures," which portrays a conflict between a young woman who cannot speak her native language and her traditional Navajo grandmother will premiere on April 30 with "Women in the Shadows," which follows a Metis woman on a spritual journey in search of her foremothers.

All of the photographers' work will be exhibited at Local 803 Gallery, 803 E. Helen St., from May 4 through May 28. An opening reception with a live performance by the Mary Redhouse and Larry Hauer Duo will be held from 7 -10 p.m. on May 7.

The exhibition was originally scheduled for the month of April at the Union Gallery, but when the gallery was closed "Praising the Spirit" had to be rescheduled for May, the only opening Local 803 had. Zuckerman said that she hopes that students will still be able to experience the exhibition, despite the fact that it will not be on campus.

"Praising the Spirit" lectures will take place at the Center for Creative Photography at 7 p.m. Tickets are $2.

The films will be at The Loft Cinema at noon Tickets are $5.

Tickets are available from Antigone Books, Photographic Works Lab, Arizona Travel Center, Scot Photo and the door. Read Next Article