Pride and Dignity

Luminace: Aboriginal photographic portraits

An opportunity to expand upon the meaning of the Brant monument occurred when I came across six portraits of men from the Six Nations reserve who posed for the figures at the base of the monument (Fig. 15). The photographic portraits provide an interesting element to the monument's history. These bronze figures, dressed in the "classic" Indian manner, recall the type of Indian George Catlin desired for his canvas. Once again we are confronted by a non-native impression of the Aboriginal world. The Iroquois models shown in these portraits, with a cloth thrown over their shoulders to highlight their faces, allow us to see men, not icons. In the exhibition, these six portraits are on both sides of the Brant monument; this mounting provokes us to question representation and the non-native world's continued search for the monumental Indian figure.

The portrait of Dog Child (Fig. 16) compelled me to find more historical background information. I tried to figure out what it was about the portrait that drew me to it. I remembered a pow-wow I was working at in Bismarch, North Dakota, during the summer of 1995. I was producing a new series of portraits of a type of pow-wow dancer known as the Traditional Dancer. When I choose a dancer to photograph, I'm drawn to him by his visual presentation of pow-wow clothing, dance style and a sense of "self" that feels authentic. It's similar to being "cool" - some people are born cool, others try to be cool. Dog Child and his wife had a sense of coolness.

Dog Child's history is recorded in more detail in Adolph Hungry Wolf's 1973 book The Blood People. Hungry Wolf, a white man adopted by the Blood people, was able to gather a large body of information about the Bloods through archival research and from community elders. Dog Child's son, George First Rider, provided a biographical sketch. We learn that Dog Child's wife's name was The Only Handsome Woman. A portrait of the couple, taken in 1939 by Ester Goldfrank, accompanies the text. Dog Child's father's name was Holy Descent and his mother's name was Under Making Noise. Dog Child also had three brothers: Stripped Wolf, Mistaken Chief and Shoot at Close Range. As a North West Mounted Police scout, Dog Child's job was to protect the borders of the Blood Reserve, checking for trespassers and illegal liquor traffic. "Through this job, my father learned to speak English, working in the white way." ⁷ Dog Child was also a well-known doctor (medicine man) and worked in this capacity until his death in 1948. He belonged to the Black Seizers warrior society (the ones who tear our clothes). The Seizers were well known for demanding contributions of food from the community for their society gatherings, and if refused, had a right to tear up the clothing of the refuser.

Source

Figure 15 - Peter Newhouse, Onandaga. Photographer: Park & Co., Brantford, Ontario. Silver gelatin print. National Archives of Canada

Source

Figure 16 - Dog Child, a North West Mounted Police scout, and his wife, members of the Blackfoot Nation, Gleichen, Alberta, ca. 1890. Photographer: Trueman and Caple Photo, Vancouver, British Columbia. Silver gelatin print. National Archives of Canada

 

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