TV Indians
Cara Romero, Chemehuevi / American, born 1977
Chemehuevi
Great Basin
2017
Archival inkjet print
Image: 35 × 53 5/8 in. (88.9 × 136.2 cm)
Sheet: 40 1/4 × 58 5/8 in. (102.2 × 148.9 cm)
Frame: 46 × 64 1/8 in. (116.8 × 162.9 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Sondra and Charles Gilman Jr. Foundation Fund
Image courtesy the artist.
2017.46
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Native American
Native American: Great Basin
Photograph
Not on view
Label
In TV Indians, Cara Romero juxtaposes television images of Native Americans with a group of young Native folks. From left to right, the individuals in the picture are Crickett Tiger, Kaa Folwell, Santiago Romero ’10, and Dina Devore and child. Unlike the homogenous (mis)representations of Indigeneity on the TV screens, the individuals pictured represent the diversity and specificity of Puebloan communities today. Early in her career, Romero was influenced by the work of Anglo photographer Edward Curtis. However, she later realized that this approach was not reflective of her or her subjects’ own experiences. Through experimentation with different techniques, settings, and staging, her later work feels conversely theatrical and genuine. Furthermore, it expresses the multiplicity of Native American experiences and identities. This photograph is like a post-modern story, that is, the kind of fiction that refers to itself and its creation. . . . If there was ever a photograph of mine that needed to be seen large scale to be appreciated, this is it. —Cara Romero From the 2019 exhibition Portrait of the Artist as an Indian / Portrait of the Indian as an Artist, guest curated by Rayna Green
Course History
SART 30, SART 75, Photography II and III, Virginia Beahan, Spring 2019
ANTH 3, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Spring 2019
NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2020
NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2020
NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2020
NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2020
Exhibition History
Portrait of the Artist as an Indian / Portrait of the Indian as an Artist, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 24, 2019- February 23, 2020.
Publication History
John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 54, ill. fig. 8.10.
Provenance
The artist, Cara Romero Photography, Santa Fe, New Mexico; sold to present collection, 2017.
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