ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

An Indigenous Photographic History of America – in Pictures

exhibition · 2026-08-10

A photo essay in The Guardian explores Indigenous photography across America, featuring works from the early 1900s to the present. It showcases photographers from Native American and First Nations backgrounds, including Jennie Ross Cobb (1881), recognized as the first female Native American photographer, with her 1902 images of the Cherokee Nation. Other notable artists include Rosalie Favell (Métis, 'Family Legacy', 2021), Kali Spitzer (Kaska Dena, 'An Exploration of Resilience and Resistance'), and Tom Fields (Cherokee, 2010 photo of Bill Frazier). Additional contributors are Brian Adams (Iñupiaq, 2015 photo of Marie Rexford), Nīa MacKnight (Lakota, personal heritage), Richard Throssel (Cree, early 1900s children), Pat Kane (Algonquin Anishinaabe, 2021 caribou image), Citlali Fabián (Yalalteca, Oaxaca portrait), and Josué Rivas (Mexica, Dakota Access Pipeline protests, 2017). The essay underscores the rich diversity of Indigenous narratives and the progression of photography.

Key facts

  • Jennie Ross Cobb, born 1881, is the first known female Native American photographer.
  • Cobb's 1902 photograph documents friends walking along the Ozark and Cherokee Central Railroad in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
  • Rosalie Favell's 'Forever in Our Hearts' (2021) is from her series 'Family Legacy'.
  • Kali Spitzer's project 'An Exploration of Resilience and Resistance' uses a large format wet-plate camera.
  • Tom Fields' 2010 photograph depicts Bill Frazier, a Chickasaw pastor and US Marine Corps veteran.
  • Brian Adams' 2015 photograph of Marie Rexford was taken in Kaktovik, Alaska, for his book 'I Am Inuit'.
  • Josué Rivas photographed the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at the Oceti Sakowin Camp in 2017.
  • Richard Throssel, of Cree heritage, lived among the Crow people of the Apsáalooke Nation.

Entities

Artists

  • Jennie Ross Cobb
  • Rosalie Favell
  • Kali Spitzer
  • Tom Fields
  • Brian Adams
  • Nīa MacKnight
  • Richard Throssel
  • Pat Kane
  • Citlali Fabián
  • Josué Rivas

Institutions

  • Oklahoma Historical Society
  • American Heritage Centre, University of Wyoming

Locations

  • Tahlequah
  • Oklahoma
  • Kaktovik
  • Alaska
  • Lac de Gras
  • Northern Canada
  • Oaxaca City
  • Mexico
  • Cannon Ball
  • North Dakota

Sources