Water Girls

From the event:
Here, Now and Always: A Final Look

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Water Girls, 2017, Marla Allison, Laguna Pueblo

Museum Purchase, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, 60220/13

Photography by Addison Doty 

Based on two Edward S. Curtis photographs, this acrylic tryptich superimposes Laguna Pueblo and Hopi designs over Curtis’ images, speaking back to the power dynamics inherent in his legacy, and reclaiming the photograph as her own. The girl on the left was added into the frame by Allison. Speaking about the piece, Allison explains, “[T]hrough their eyes, these women can show you a lifetime of hard living and determination to exist. One looking to the past, one looking at the present, and me, I am looking towards the future. […] This is [the] strength, humility, obedience, tradition, sacrifice, family, duty, and heritage of a people made through the hand of a Pueblo woman.”

 

Credit: Addison Doty


Note: Representative image at left is often cropped for display purposes. Downloaded high-resolution images are not cropped.