Talking Tintype, Storme Webber, Artist/Poet, Sugpiaq/Black/Choctaw, from the series Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange: dᶻidᶻəlalič
negative 2017, printed 2022
This image of Storme Webber—two-spirit, Sugpiaq/Choctaw/Black interdisciplinary artist—was taken in Seattle during one of Wilson’s Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX) events. Photographing Indigenous people across the Nation, Wilson has created an archive by and for Native People that challenges the romantic photographs of Edward S. Curtis. Some of Wilson’s photographs are activated using an app that “brings the sitter to life.” In this case, Webber recites poetry: “The blues saved me….” This “talking tintype” reveals Webber’s deep connections to the blues music played in the saloons and diners of Skid Row (Pioneer Square), places that served as refuge and community for people of color, gays and lesbians, hustlers, and sex workers. Growing up in these alternative places with lesbians and mixed-race family matriarchs, Webber asks us to consider the connection of these personal and hidden histories and their connections to music, family, and public memory.
Archival pigment print from wet plate collodion scan, black and white video with sound
Image: 50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm)
Paper: 54 x 44 in. (137.2 x 111.8 cm)
Video: 2 min. 30 sec.
Ancient and Native American Art Acquisition Fund
2022.35
Provenance: The artist; purchased from artist by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2022
Photo: Scott Leen
