2020- Ongoing
As an extension of the portraits I was making at George Floyd Square for the Black community there, I began also extending the practice to the Indigenous community on Indigenous Peoples Day.
All participants as self-selecting, and get to keep the original tintype as well as the digital copy. Portraits are made free of charge, and participants may still have their portrait made and decline to have the image published or displayed as apart of this project.
There is a deep and conflicted history of wetplate depicting indigenous populations of the Americas. Though there is gratitude for the record produced by the most well known, Edward Curtis, there is also exploitation, fetishization, othering, and lack of agency for those photographed during this time. My intention with this project is mainly to give agency back to modernIndigenous peoples in how they are represented in these images and ownership over those images and how they are used or not used. It is also important to me to contribute to photo records of these families and using an archival process known for its longevity and staying power.
Lastly, race as a Latinx person can be confusing, especially personally as me and my family have never been perceived as “white”, but I’ve learned that part of what makes my family brown is our indigenous heritage, specifically to the native people of Venezuela. Part of my experience growing up first generation american was my family's desire to assimilate into american culture, so this part of us was pushed aside and not really talked about. Even though each native community is different, it is my desire to connect to this part of myself by connecting to indigenous community of Minnesota and to serve them in this way, and my hope is that this will put me on the path to connect to my own personal indigenous roots.
This work, in part, was made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Carla Alexandra Rodriguez is a fiscal year 2022 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This project was made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.