#128 Photo Exhibition in Korea Spotlights Native American People and Culture

[스티븐스 대사]

Last Friday, I visited the Sejong Cultural Arts Center to attend the opening of “Sacred Legacy:  Edward Curtis and the North American Indian,” a photo exhibit that features work by well-known American photographer Edward Curtis.  More than a hundred years ago, Curtis began documenting the lives of more than eighty different Native Americans nations.  Finishing his project – and achieving his dream – took nearly 25 years: Curtis worked on it from 1906 to 1930.

Many of Curtis' nearly 100-year-old photographs contain images of the southwestern United States - scenes that still exist today much as they did back then.

Having grown up in the southwest, some of the exhibition's photographs seemed very familiar to me.  The sandstone monoliths, arid desert vistas, and Hopi pueblos that define parts of the Southwestern landscapes still exist today much as they did when Curtis first photographed them.

 

The pueblo that the Hopi women are sitting on in this 1922 photograph can still be seen in the Southwest.  Its design elements have inspired countless architects and continue to be incorporated into buildings in the region.

The exhibit offers a glimpse into the lives of America's first inhabitants - people ravaged by war, disease, persecution and discrimination.  Curtis' photos mostly do not focus on these challenges.  They do reveal the beauty, honor and inner strength of Native Americans.

It's a great exhibit - go see for yourself!

    

[God to be!!!]

God to be