Talking Tintype, Storme Webber, Artist/Poet, Sugpiaq/Black/Choctaw, from the series Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange: dᶻidᶻəlalič

Datenegative 2017, printed 2022

Maker Will Wilson Native American, Diné, born 1969

Label TextThis 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.

Object number2022.35

ProvenanceThe artist; purchased from artist by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2022

Photo CreditPhoto: Scott Leen

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Double Exposure: Edward S. Curtis, Marianne Nicolson, Tracy Rector, Will Wilson, June 4 - Sept. 9, 2018. No cat. no., pp. 23-24, reproduced fig. 10. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Art: The Stories We Carry, Oct. 20, 2022 - ongoing.

Credit LineAncient and Native American Art Acquisition Fund

DimensionsImage: 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.

MediumArchival pigment print from wet plate collodion scan, black and white video with sound