Pride and Dignity

Luminace: Aboriginal photographic portraits

"The studio portrait of a Dakota (Sioux) Woman" (Fig. 10) stands out in its singular confrontation with the photographer and returns a strong gaze to the viewer. But by leaving the original inscription "A Sioux Squaw" intact, the image is turned back into a stereotype, robbing the portrait of its power. The portrait presents the firm gaze of a sister, a wife, a mother and a grandmother. But what is missing is the sense of humor that has been so critical to Aboriginal survival.

A similar situation occurs with the portrait of an Ojibwa woman and child, taken in the Red River Settlement, Manitoba, 1858, by the photographer Humphrey Lloyd Hime. A striking portrait of a woman and child in any culture, the image quickly sinks to an Indian stereotype simply by its original caption "An Ojibway [sic] Squaw with papoose."

Source

Figure 10 - A studio portrait of a Dakota (Sioux) woman, Manitoba, 1909

Source

Figure 11 - An Ojibwa woman and child, Red River Settlement, Manitoba, 1895

 

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