project 562

Project 562
        
       The second you open up the link to the website for project 562 you are greeted by the face of a woman and a quote that says "changing the way we see Native America". Right away you know the goal of this project. From this website you also learn who created this project and a small backstory. It tells us, "Created by Matika Wilbur, Project 562 is a multi-year national photography project dedicated to photographing over 562 federally recognized tribes in The United States resulting in an unprecedented repository of imagery and oral histories that accurately portrays contemporary Native Americans."
       The section of Matika Wilbur's website that is dedicated to learning more about project 562's creator tells us "Matika began her career in fashion and commercial work in Los Angeles after completing the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography. Though in high demand professionally, Matika realized that she wanted a different path as a photographer: to create portrait art that deeply communicated people’s lives and experiences.  She was especially drawn to remarkable personalities from the nation’s indigenous communities, who typically in massive media and the popular consciousness have been grossly neglected or stereotyped." To me this means that Matika was working in this industry and realized she didn't want to just be taking pictures, she wanted those pictures to mean something. So she began to take pictures of people similar to her, listen their stories, and try to make them not feel or be seen as different. 
        "Through her lens, we are able to see the diversity, vibrancy, and realness of Indian Country, and in seeing, challenge and surpass stereotypical representations and refresh the national conversation about contemporary Native America." I believe that this quote from the project's website summarizes that she has met her goal, which she states as "My goal is to unveil the true essence of contemporary Native issues, the beauty of Native culture, the magnitude if tradition, and expose her vitality.", because through these images and stories told we can learn more about the Native American culture and what they have been through and overcame.
  • Created by Matika Wilbur, Project 562 is a multi-year national photography project dedicated to photographing over 562 federally recognized tribes in The United States resulting in an unprecedented repository of imagery and oral histories that accurately portrays contemporary Native Americans.
  • To help develop a body of imagery and cultural representations of Native Peoples to counteract the relentlessly insipid, one-dimensional stereotypes circulating in mainstream media, historical textbooks and the culture industry.
  • Each particular tribe and each individual and experience which shapes entirely the way the portrait comes to be. One gets the sense that her works reflect a true partnership between artist and sitter.
  • Project 562 began in 2012 as a photography documentary focusing on indigenous American tribal members. It derives its name from the 562 tribes found in the United States at the time of conception in 2012, though as of 2015 there are 566 federally recognized tribes located within the boundaries of the US. 
her website
  • my goal is to unveil the true essence of contemporary Native issues, the beauty of Native culture, the magnitude if tradition, and expose her vitality.
  • Matika began her career in fashion and commercial work in Los Angeles after completing the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography. Though in high demand professionally, Matika realized that she wanted a different path as a photographer: to create portrait art that deeply communicated people’s lives and experiences.  She was especially drawn to remarkable personalities from the nation’s indigenous communities, who typically in massive media and the popular consciousness have been grossly neglected or stereotyped.
  • She also began offering Native youth of her own community training and inspiration to explore and create visual art as a certified k-12 teacher; but she found that the representation of First Peoples in traditional curricula and the media as "leathered and feathered", dying races undermined her students’ sense of identity and potential. 
  • Matika has in this endeavor visited members of over 300 sovereign nations throughout 40 states, from Tlingits in Alaska to the Pima in Arizona, Pomos in California to Wampanoags on Cape Cod. Through her lens, we are able to see the diversity, vibrancy and realness of Indian Country, and in seeing, challenge and surpass stereotypical representations and refresh the national conversation about contemporary Native America.

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