Jesusa Vargas reviews Horace Poolaw

  When referencing a photographer that captured moments in time, one artist that can best be reviewed is Kiowa American "Indian" Horace Poolaw. Horace was born in 1906 and died in 1984. It was during his time that he chose to document cultural events and became known for his strong representations of his multi-tribal community and for demonstrating the presence of Native people in our country. In this blog, I want to present a few of his photos from a series titled For a Love of His People.


Horace photographed transformations during each decade in the 20th century and his subject matter depicted the environments in which he, family, and friends experienced. All his photos are black and white images displaying the attachments the people in the photo had with past and present influences. In the first image, three children stand in front of a rear facing automobile. The children, the focal point of the composition, are centered. In this image, 2 of the 3 children are Poolaw family members. One child wears a mid 1900s WWII flight cap and the other two wear attire of that time rather than Native American regalia.




In the image below, two military soldiers are seen in an aircraft. One poses and turns his head towards us for the photo. The other man continues to look on at his target on the right of the image. Both men are centered in this composition. It was interesting to see how Horace has his subjects combine there cultural past with the present day, almost an assimilation of cultures within an image. Both soldiers are wearing feathered headdresses.





In the last image below, two children are frozen in time in the image as they pose in cowboy costumes and drawing their toy guns. Neither boys are looking at the camera, but rather, they look on to the left at perhaps an enemy coming towards them outside the frame. A scene, as if almost depicted out of a movie with a country landscape.




I invite you to take time to view more of Horace Poolaw's photography. The events and culture represented are a beautiful documentation of his community and the active presence of American Indians in history.

http://nmai.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/item/?id=899