Imagi/Nations:
Native American Photographs from the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI, London 2012)
Images of Native North Americans part of a little-known collections such as the ones of the RAI, offer a rare glimpse into the visual history of indigenous North American nations (Canadian First Nations, Native Americans, Inuit). The exhibition presents a selection of 35 photographs from the RAI's photographic archives that cover areas as different as early physical anthropology, visual records of material culture, as well as social and cultural life of Native North Americans between the 19th c. and the early decades of the 20th c. Collections include images of peoples from Greenland and the Pacific Northwest coast, the Southwest USA, Canadian Great Lakes, the Great Plains and the Eastern woodlands. The exhibition highlights how these early photographs reflect aesthetics and visual of the time, making innovative connections between the images and the visual cultures they were couched in. An online version of the exhibition’s catalogue is available from the RAI’s website.