Natives Photograph 2020 Year in Pictures

For the first time, Natives Photograph is sharing a Year in Pictures from our members, who collectively have documented this unprecedented year with clarity and intention. We hope you enjoy this reflection of 2020 that takes you across Indigenous territories, from New York to Yellowknife, from Mauna Kea to Oaxaca. Even as we struggled through a pandemic and widespread civil unrest, we hope these photos will also show you some quieter moments of hope and connectivity as well that can carry us into a better 2021.

— Brian Adams, Tailyr Irvine, Josué Rivas, & Daniella Zalcman

CAMILLE SEAMAN
Shinnecock
www.camilleseaman.com | @camilleseaman

Icebergs and glaciers, Elephant Island, Antarctica.

PAT KANE
Timiskaming First Nation
www.patkanephoto.com | @patkanephoto

Melaw Nakehk’o is a moosehide tanner, an artist, a filmmaker and mother.

"Through the process of reclaiming my cultural knowledge, I saw how the many teachings woven into our land practices could positively impact our first nation communities. Our Dene protocols and laws govern our reciprocal relationship with the land and animals. Moosehide tanning is a foundational Indigenous art form, it was our homes, our transportation, our clothes and in hard times our sustenance. It is the canvas of our visual cultural identity. The smoke smell triggers memories of grandmothers, the sound of scraping reminds us of our aunties working together, the beadwork and style of our moccasins represent our nations. Hide tanning is a revolutionary act of resistance. We occupy our traditional land, we are adhering to our traditional teachings and honoring our relationship with the animals that sustain us. Moosehide Tanning is Land Back."

PAUL WILSON
The Klamath Tribes
www.maqlaqsmedia.com | @paulrww

Yurok brothers Sammy, Peter, and Jonluke paddle redwood canoes down the Klamath River. Once the main form of transport for tribes along the river, the practice of traditionally dugout canoes is now carried by few. These brothers began the Ancestral Guard to make sure traditions like these continue to be passed from elders to future generations.

BRIAN ADAMS
Inupiaq
www.baphotos.com | @brianadamsphotography

A portrait of Quannah Chasinghorse for the Calvin Klein One Vote campaign.

KAPULEI FLORES
Hawaiian
www.kapzphotography.com | @kapzphotography

The journey to the top of the tallest mountain in the world from sea level (Mauna Kea) to raise the Hawaiian flag.

TAILYR IRVINE
Confederated Salish & Kootenai
www.tailyrirvine.com | @tailyrirvine

Prairie Cocowee Antoine sleeps in the cradleboard her maternal grandmother made for her. Prairie’s middle name, Cocowee, is the original last name of her mother’s family before in the early 1800s a Jesuit priest changed a relative’s first name to Antoine, which his children adopted as their last name. Her parents, Tiana Antoine and Nathan Drennan, decided that Prairie’s last name should be Antoine because they wanted their daughter’s name to reflect her family history; Drennan is the name of Nathan’s adopted mother and doesn’t reflect Salish and Kootenai culture.

DAWNEE LEBEAU
Cheyenne River Tetonwan
www.dawneelebeau.com | @dawneelebeauphoto

This is a photograph of my tunjan ryia's tinpsila relative from our harvest during wipazuka was'te' wi.

JOSUÉ RIVAS
Mexica + Otomi
www.josuerivasfoto.com | @josue_foto

”On July 13th, the Washington Football Team dropped its longtime racist name and logo after decades of public outrage. This was a victory for activists and Indigenous communities across the country and the continuation of a larger movement to eradicate all Native mascots in sports. Brands like Aunt Jemima and multiple confederate monuments came down across the nation, adding to the awakening of racial injustices the United States is founded on. For me, burning the R#%$kins jersey as a ritual allowed me to cope with my emotions about changing the name and envision a country without racist mascots .”

JAIDA GREY EAGLE
Oglala Lakota
www.jaidagreyeagle.com | @jaida.l.greyeagle

A few hundred protesters marched in downtown Minneapolis in solidarity with Jacob Blake, a black man who was shot in the back by police in Kenosha, WI in August.

CITLALI FABIAN
Zapoteca
www.citlalifabian.com | @citlalifabian

”Men waiting the morning of my cousin Reina’s wedding ceremony. The bride’s relatives arrive at her home to walk with her to the church. Everyone arrives early in the morning to have a hot drink before the mass and then wait for the bride.”

JEREMY DENNIS
Shinnecock
www.jeremynative.com | @jeremynative

”On Monday, August 13th, 2018, skeleton remains were found during residential development on Hawthorne Road in the sacred Shinnecock Hills. The developers and homeowners contacted the Southampton Town and Suffolk County police department, who further desecrated the burial by digging out the remains. The lack of empathy toward Indigenous sacred sites and routine disturbances for the sake of evermore Hampton estates influenced the Sacredness of Hills Series, which uses real estate developments as the site for addressing issues of preservation. In my personal efforts, I have stood with elders to protest the continued desecration of our sacred Shinnecock Hills, yet even as recent as December 2019, the local town of Southampton ignored development after offering to purchase a neighboring lot in our sacred lands. For us, there is a sacredness of hills that needs to be protected.

Since beginning the project, on September 10th, 2020, Southampton Town Board approved the Shinnecock Hills Building Moratorium and Graves Protection Act. The Graves Protection Act establishes protocols if human remains are encountered during construction activities while the six-month moratorium halts new home construction or excavation within areas that include the Fort Hill and the Sugar Loaf areas of Shinnecock Hills and beyond to Peconic Road without first completing an archaeological review. New York State is one of only four states that lack the Graves Protection Act.”

KILIII YUYAN
Nanai + Hezhen
www.kiliii.com | @kiliiiyuyan

A few days after the explosion of protests against the murder of George Floyd, Seattle's Sheriff Department seized control of the downtown region, forcing out protestors with teargas and riot arms. During the days long confrontation with Black Lives Matter protestors, residents and homeless people were seen fleeing the area from teargas exposure.

THOMAS RYAN REDCORN
Osage
@redcorn

This is Spencer Mckim. He’s an Osage and Afghanistan War veteran. He was wounded in Afghanistan and has had many complications with VA regarding his leg. He came to me wanting portraits two days before his leg was to be amputated. He picked the chair and the flag for this occasion. Since Spencer’s amputation, his health has aggressively rebounded. He happily attributes his progress to his Oklahoma weed card which has allowed him to leave behind a host of VA medications that he says were making him suicidal.

KALI SPITZER
Kaska Dena + Jewish
kalispitzer.com | @kali_spitzer_photography

A portrait of Lucy from Will Wilson and Kali Spitzer’s CIPIX residency, Ancestral and Unceded Lands of the Abenaki People (The Hood Museum, Dartmouth, New Hampshire, United States), 2020.

PAMELA J. PETERS
Diné (Navajo)
www.tachiiniiphotography.com | @tachiiniiphotography

Kelly Caballero at Malibu Beach sharing the rich culture roots of her Tongva Culture.

YAEL MARTÍNEZ
Nahua + Mexican
www.yaelmartinez.com | @yaelmtzv

The pandemic has brought more challenges for the development of our children and now we have to support their studies at home. Itzel Martínez, 10, is in 5th grade. Here, she can be seen with an exercise on the geography of the mountains in Taxco, Guerrero on June 29.

TAHILA MINTZ
Yaqui
www.tahila.net | @tahilasnap

White snake root grows in abundance in Upstate, NY in higher altitude forests. It looks similar to Boneset but must not be harvested by accident. It is poisonous.

JENNY IRENE MILLER
Inupiaq
www.jennyirenemiller.com | @jennyirenemiller

”I've been thinking about queerness. What does it mean to be feminine, what does it mean to be masculine? What about a little bit of both? Who gets to decide?”

MINIK BIDSTRUP
Inuk
www.minikbidstrup.com | @bidstrupp

President Trump passes supporters as he leaves his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, on Election Day, November 3.

ELI FARINANGO
Kichwa
www.elifarinango.com | @elifarinango

Self portrait in ceremony with myself, February 24.

TOMAS KARMELO AMAYA
Yaqui + Zuni + Tarahumara
www.tomaskarmelo.com | @tomaskarmelo

Grant Real Bird (White Mountain Apache) visits a neighborhood in the Turkey Creek community of the Fort Apache Reservation about 20 miles away from Whiteriver, AZ. Real Bird is a contact tracer working with Johns Hopkins University in partnership with the Indian Health Service.

RUSSEL ALBERT DANIELS
Diné + Ho-Chunk
www.russeldaniels.com | @russelalbertdaniels

Artist Maurice Archuleta descends from an original Genízaro family in Abiquiú and actively participates in the social life of this community. “Since I was a child,” he says, “I’ve learned our traditional stories, dances, and songs.” Archuleta is particularly drawn to ceremonial dance and is a keen observer of other Pueblo dancers’ footwork. He helps perpetuate Genízaro dances by occasionally reinvigorating them with new steps.

By the 1700s, northern New Mexico had become a violent imperial frontier marked by deadly clashes, retaliatory raids, and a brutal trade in Native slaves. The creation of New Spain, in 1535, and then the extension of the Spanish Empire into what is now the American Southwest, in the 1600s, had transformed the region. The conflicts forever altered the lives of Native peoples, including those who would become known as the Genízaro.

TEKPATL KUAUHTZIN
Nahua, Cucapa, Tsalagi
www.tekpatlkuauhtzin.com | @tekpatl

Moon watches over her granddaughter on the Mojave flats, summer 2020.

MATIKA WILBUR
Tulalip + Swinomish
www.matikawilbur.com | @project_562

Elyssa Zackuse (Tulalip) prepares for her graduation in the middle of a global pandemic on May 4 in Tulalip, Washington.