TULALIP — Matika Wilbur, a Tulalip and Swinomish tribal member, has spent the past decade documenting the modern lives of Native Americans in each of the 562 federally-recognized Indian tribes.
In 2012, Wilbur sold everything in her Seattle apartment and set out to photograph Native Americans in their homes, schools, churches, ceremonies and striking native landscapes. She has driven about 600,000 miles and been everywhere from the Tlingits in Alaska to the Wampanoags in Cape Cod. The goal of her project, Wilbur explained, is “to change the way we see Native America.”
“How can we be seen as modern successful people, if we are continually represented as the leathered and feathered vanishing race?” Wilbur asked during her 2013 Seattle TED Talk.
And after a decade of work, Wilbur’s book “Project 562” hit shelves on Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning, she told The Daily Herald she’s excited to have finally made it to publishing day. Penguin Random House is printing the book, and it will be available at Elliott Bay in Seattle, through national retail chains and online.
Photographer Matika Wilbur from the Tulalip and Swinomish tribes with a piece from her exhibition “Seeds of Culture: Portraits and Stories of Native Women” which was displayed at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington. (Gale Fiege / The Herald file)
She began a national book tour with a stop in Swinomish on Tuesday, and will be in Tulalip 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Hibulb Cultural Center. Both Tulalip and Swinomish tribes bought enough copies of “Project 562” to give to tribal youth.
“I just really want to make sure to extend my love and gratitude to my community for doing that,” Wilbur said.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Brooks Institute of Photography in California, Wilbur told the Herald she was visited in a dream by her grandmother. ‘Why aren’t you photographing your own people?” her grandmother asked.
“That was the turning point,” Wilbur said. “I thought I was never going back to the rez. And now I am going to all of the reservations. Because we are still here and we have a contemporary culture.”
Wilbur aims to “humanize” Native Americans by overcoming historical inaccuracies and stereotypical representations.
A self-portrait of Matika Wilbur. (Matika Wilbur)
For each session, Wilbur starts with 10 to 20 interview questions “talking about life stories, love, freedom, family, tribal and societal issues, etc.” Then she photographs the subjects in their native land. When she began the journey, there were 562 federally-recognized tribes, but today, there are 574.
“I aim to do character-study portraits that capture the individuality of each person,” Wilbur said. “It’s still not safe in this country to be a Native, especially for women.”
Before her book was published, her exhibition “Seeds of Culture: Portraits and Stories of Native American Women,” which featured 28 striking portraits and interviews, was featured everywhere from the Whatcom Museum to the Nantes Museum in France. She’s been invited to give TED Talks and speak at Harvard University for her work.
“I guess I see it as an act of service, spreading messages entrusted to me,” Wilbur said. “I hope young tribal members see themselves reflected in the work.”
At 9 p.m. on April 27, Wilbur will make her last Washington stop at Elliott Bay Book in Seatttle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. After that, Wilbur will make her way through Oregon, Oklahoma, New York, California, New Mexico and Louisiana.
Kayla J. Dunn: 425-339-3449; kayla.dunn@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @KaylaJ_Dunn.
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