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Talking Tintype, Swil Kanim, Violinist, Citizen of the Lummi Nation, from the series Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange: dᶻidᶻəlalič

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Talking Tintype, Swil Kanim, Violinist, Citizen of the Lummi Nation, from the series Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange: dᶻidᶻəlalič

2017, printed 2019

Will Wilson

Native American, Diné, born 1969

Using the 19th-century tintype process, Diné photographer Will Wilson invites the sitter to share authority in the production of portrait images. With his Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX) project, Wilson captures reservation-based and urban Natives who have created inclusive communities in our cities. Wilson gifts his tintypes—some of which “come to life” using a special app—to his sitters and retains the digital copies for large-scale prints. Wilson staged CIPX in Seattle (dᶻidᶻəlalič), documenting individuals as they see and refer to themselves. Here, legendary violinist and performance artist Richard Marshall (Swil Kanim) plays his own moving composition of “Ten Little Indians,” reminding us that this seemingly benign children’s song is about the genocide of Native People.
Archival pigment print from wet plate collodion scan, black and white video with sound
56 1/4 x 44 1/4 in. (142.9 x 112.4 cm)
video: 2 min, 51 sec.
Ancient and Native American Art Acquisition Fund
2019.26.1
Provenance: The artist; purchased by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2019
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Double Exposure: Edward S. Curtis, Marianne Nicolson, Tracy Rector, Will Wilson, June 4 - Sept. 9, 2018. Text by Barbara Brotherton, et al. No cat. no., p. 25, reproduced fig. 11.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Art: The Stories We Carry, Oct. 20, 2022 - ongoing.
Published ReferencesPierce, Jerald. "How Seattle Art Museum is working to make its American art galleries more inclusive." The Seattle Times, October 25, 2022: reproduced, https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/how-seattle-art-museum-is-working-to-make-its-american-art-galleries-more-inclusive. [A version of this article appeared in print on October 30 with the headline: "Re-imagining American art: Seattle Art Museum offers a more expansive, inclusive look at U.S. art" (not reproduced).]

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM