Akwasasne
image index / statement
The story of Native Americans in the United States has consisted largely of displacement and exploitation for many generations. Only recently have certain tribes developed stable economies thanks to untaxed casinos, cigarette factories, and especially in reservations on the border-smuggling.
Approximately eight thousand Mohawk Indians live on the Akwasasne Mohawk Reservation which straddles the St. Lawrence River on the border of the United States and Canada. I traveled there in December 2003 to visit a friend and experience life on the 'res' first hand.
In addition to a bag of clothes and camera, I brought some historic images of Native Americans with me in an attempt to explore, with the Mohawk community, the issue of Native American representation. While photography has an amazing ability to preserve and document people and places, most photographic archives of Native Americans consist of posed portraits and romanticized scenarios. I wanted to confront this history and, through dialogue, understand the reality of Mohawks living today.
In Akwasasne I found an amazingly dynamic community, filled with the struggles, tensions, hopes, and aspirations of any other town. The community, however, is subject to an incredible amount of pollution produced by the GM plant and other local factories. The opening of a casino and bingo hall recently divided Akwasasne into fierce traditionalists afraid of assimilation and those willing to embrace significant changes to their way of life. Perhaps most significant for the rest of America, Akwasasne is an open door for smugglers who ferry cigarettes, drugs, weapons, and even people across the St. Lawrence river throughout the year.
Edition info:
19x19" C-prints, printed on 20x24" paper, Edition of 7
Approximately eight thousand Mohawk Indians live on the Akwasasne Mohawk Reservation which straddles the St. Lawrence River on the border of the United States and Canada. I traveled there in December 2003 to visit a friend and experience life on the 'res' first hand.
In addition to a bag of clothes and camera, I brought some historic images of Native Americans with me in an attempt to explore, with the Mohawk community, the issue of Native American representation. While photography has an amazing ability to preserve and document people and places, most photographic archives of Native Americans consist of posed portraits and romanticized scenarios. I wanted to confront this history and, through dialogue, understand the reality of Mohawks living today.
In Akwasasne I found an amazingly dynamic community, filled with the struggles, tensions, hopes, and aspirations of any other town. The community, however, is subject to an incredible amount of pollution produced by the GM plant and other local factories. The opening of a casino and bingo hall recently divided Akwasasne into fierce traditionalists afraid of assimilation and those willing to embrace significant changes to their way of life. Perhaps most significant for the rest of America, Akwasasne is an open door for smugglers who ferry cigarettes, drugs, weapons, and even people across the St. Lawrence river throughout the year.
Edition info:
19x19" C-prints, printed on 20x24" paper, Edition of 7