Will Wilson
‍Jay Benham, Artist, Museum Educator, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Citizen of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma

• What can we discover about a person just by looking at their portrait? Should we attempt to discern the character, uniqueness, and worthiness of the individual through their image? Why or why not?
• What can you discover about the person in this photograph after looking at their portrait?

Native American photographer Will Wilson is a citizen of the Navajo Nation. He wants to demonstrate the way indigenous people are taking back the representation of their own culture through art, photography, and social action. In making his photographs, he encourages his subjects to present themselves as they wish to be seen rather than how an outsider’s eye would see them. Thus, every photo is a portrait of an individual, not a romanticized stereotype. In presenting such a wide variety of portraits, he updates the status of the Native American populations to make us aware that each is diverse in its own language, economics, and culture. These people do not represent a monolithic culture; they are unique individuals worthy of our attention and consideration.

• What is this artist asking us to see and understand about contemporary Indigenous Peoples? How do you think he has deconstructed the national myth of the American Indian that we have seen portrayed in television, movies, mascots, and printed material?