Matika Wilbur Vs. Edward Curtis essay

Walker Bragg

10/28/2014

History photography essay

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Edward Curtis Vs. Matika Wilbur Photography

            Edward Curtis and Matika Wilbur are both famous for their many years of photography. While Matika Wilbur is an artist in present day Edward Curtis did most of his work in the early 1900s. Just by looking at some of their pictures, it is easy to see the differences in their style and technique of photography. It might be easy to think that these physical differences are because of the differences in time periods, but looking closer at the photographers themselves, it is easy to see that most of these differences came from their own personal beliefs, their goals for taking the photos, and their view of Native American culture.

            Edward Curtis had always loved nature, going on many hikes up in mountains he was even known for finding lost hikers in the mountains and bringing them to safety. Edward photographed many things in nature from plants and rivers to sweeping landscape shots. Because of his love of nature Edward Curtis started to photograph Native Americans.  J.P. Morgan was the main beneficiary for the entirety of Edwards work. Little Money came from the books he sold called “The North American Indian”. Edward took pictures of over 80 different tribes in his life time, even going up to Alaska on an expedition. Matika Wilbur, who has Native American lineage, started out as just a normal photographer never wanting to photograph Native Americans. Matika said that she got the idea to tell the story of Native Americans from her grandmother. After that Matika started a kick started to raise money for her three year trip photographing Native American tribes. The name of Matika’s project was 562, the number of Native American tribes when she started the project.

            Edward Curtis wanted his photos to get people interested in Native American culture by showing them the simple and peaceful life of the Indian. Edward went to tribes that he thought kept most of their own culture with little outside influence. Edward viewed Indians as an aspect of nature there for he saw them as different from modern society and wanted to capture what he thought was the purest and true version of Native American life. He was known for altering some of his photos so that objects from modern day civilized life would not be shown in the photos. One example of him altering his photos is when he cropped out a clock between two Native Americans. Almost all of Edwards’s photos had a light orange brown shade put on them to make them look older and more natural. Edward’s main goal for this was to preserve the Indian way of life. Edwards was a man who believed that the Indian culture would be assimilated by the new American culture and would be whipped out.  Matika Wilbur’s feelings are similar to that of Edward Curtis in that most of the Indian culture has died out and has stopped being expressed. Matika wants to bring back and to show that that culture is still alive in the Native Americans that are living today. Most of Matika’s photos show Native Americans participating in everyday life while also practicing in their Native traditions. Matika feels that the aspect of Native Americans is out dated and needs to be refreshed to show that the Native American culture is not dead and has just changed form but kept its roots. She said that if you try to look for examples of Native Americans all you will find are pictures from someone like Edward Curtis and none from modern day. She wants to be able to express Indian culture as it is now and trying to encourage more Native Americans to embrace their heritage. Matika Wilbur and Edward Curtis both tried to preserve Native American culture through photography even though they are almost 100 years apart they both care about the preservation and salvation of the culture of Native Americans.