#project 562

DR. HENRIETTA MANN Cheyenne

On this Indigenous Peoples' Day, we are featuring Matika Wilbur’s recent publication Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America, published by Ten Speed Press in 2023. Wilbur (b. 1984) is a visual storyteller and member of the Swinomish and Tulalip peoples of coastal Washington. She holds a degree from the Brooks Institute of Photography alongside a teaching certificate that has shaped her style of educating through narrative portraits.  

Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America, a book born from a documentary project of the same name, resolves to share contemporary Native issues and culture. In 2012 Wilbur set out from Seattle to visit and photograph all 562 plus Native American sovereign territories in the United States.

Wilbur’s engagement with the communities she visited resulted in the creation of hundreds of dynamic portraits and documentation of conversations about “tribal sovereignty, self-determination, wellness, recovery from historical trauma, decolonization of the mind, and revitalization of culture.” She refers to her portraiture approach as “an indigenous photography method” that includes several hours and sometimes days of interaction with the participants, an exchange of energy and gifts, and asking sitters to choose their portrait location. The outcome is a stunning collection of Native narratives and portraits.  

GREG BISKAKONE JOHNSON Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians

HOLLY MITITQUQ NORDLUM  Iñupiaq

J. MIKO THOMAS Chickasaw Nation

MOIRA REDCORN Osage, Caddo

HELENA and PRESTON ARROW-WEED Taos Pueblo/Kwaatsaan, Kamia

STEPHEN YELLOWTAIL Apsáalooke (Crow Nation)

LEI'OHU and LA'AKEA CHUN Kānaka Maoli

ORLANDO BEGAY Diné

KALE NISSEN Colville Tribes

GRACE ROMERO PACHECO Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians

ISABELLA and ALYSSA KLAIN Diné

NANCY WILBUR Swinomish

DR. JEREMIAH "JERRY" WOLFE Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

RUTH DEMMERT Tlingit

MARVA SII~XUUTESNA JONES Tolowa Dee-Ni' Nation, Yurok, Karuk, Wintu

Matika Wilbur will be speaking on UW-Milwaukee's campus Thursday, November 16 from 6-7p.m. in conjunction with her exhibition Seeds of Culture: The Portraits and Voices of Native American Women on view at the Union Art Gallery November 16 through December 15, 2023. 

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

This is a photography book in which Wilbur visited all of the federally recognized Native American tribes (at the time she began the project, there were 562, there are currently 574) as well as some tribes only recognized by state governments, and depicting them the way they want to be viewed rather than through the stereotypical lense they are usually confined to. There are also several small sections devoted to wide ranging issues, such as the fights to protect Standing Rock and Mauna Kea, MMIWG2S, and the restoration of traditional practices.

I've never read a photography book before and this was so much more reading than I expected. I knew it was 400 pages, but I only expected like one or two paragraphs per page and also did not expect that the book would be textbook sized. I'm not mad about it- I enjoyed the book very much, it was incredibly informing and moving, but if you, like me, have also never read a photography book before, be warned that it is still a big investment to read.

Like I said though, I learned very much from this book. Most of it does not go very in depth, but it paints an expansive picture of the issues facing Native Americans today, the ways they are still affected by historical injustices, and some of the injustices continuing today. It's horrifying reading about how communities that have lived by- not just lived near, but lived by, in communion and symbiosis with- a lake for millennia had the water stolen from them and pumped to LA, so now everyone still living in the area is getting pulmonary diseases from breathing in the dust of the dry lake. How the Unangax̂ were interned during WWII just like Asian Americans. The horrific and brutal backlash from law enforcement when people try to not just regain the rights they have been stripped of, but even just exercise the treaty rights they still are supposed to have.

But this book isn't just tragedy. It's full of so much triumph and pride. People following their passions. People succeeding in restoring their languages. People rediscovering their culture. People organizing community for ceremony, traditional practices, and for games. People winning in court to affirm their rights. People persevering and continuing, finding joy in what they have and fighting for what more they need.

My only complaint is that I wish some things were written about in more depth or provided with more clarity. At one point, the bio for a man mentions how he fought against voter discrimination and helped end the practice of double voting, but there is no explanation for what double voting was, and maybe I'm just googling wrong, but I can't find any explanation. Also, given that the scope of the project was centered around federal recognition, I would have appreciated more discussion of the process and problems surrounding federal recognition. However, I understand that the focus of this project was moreso on the individuals depicted rather than an explainer for Indigenous issues.

Project 562 by Matika Wilbur (Tulalip, Swinomish)

“Created by Matika Wilbur, Project 562 is a multi-year national photography project dedicated to photographing over 562 federally recognized tribes in The United States resulting in an unprecedented repository of imagery and oral histories that accurately portrays contemporary Native Americans. This creative, consciousness-shifting work will be widely distributed through national curricula, artistic publications, exhibitions, and online portals.

Matika has visited members of over 300 sovereign nations throughout 40 states, from Tlingits in Alaska to the Pimas in Arizona, Pomos in California to Wampanoags on Cape Cod. Through her lens, we are able to see the diversity, vibrancy, and realness of Indian Country, and in seeing, challenge and surpass stereotypical representations and refresh the national conversation about contemporary Native America.”

One night, after a day spent photographing Indigenous corn farmers high up in the Andes mountains, Matika Wilbur was visited by her grandmother in a dream."Oh, sweetheart," her grandmother, who died when Wilbur was 11 said, "What are you doing here working with these people, when you haven't even worked with your own? Go home. Help your people. Be who you were born to be."

At the time, Wilbur was also teaching photography at the Tulalip heritage school and at Northwest Indian College. While building curriculum for class, she discovered a serious lack of images of Native Americans taken by Native Americans. That void inspired her to launch Project 562, a Kickstarter-funded pursuit to photograph every federally recognized Native American tribe. The ambitious project’s name came from the number of then-recognized tribes. It has since risen to 573, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Wilbur's images can be found on her Instagram account and she currently hosts the podcast All My Relations, to explore the connections between land, creatural relatives, and one another. Eventually, she plans to compile her endeavors in a book to, "shed some light on our heroes and some of our everyday folks."

“See What Happens When We Ask Young Native Americans If Racism Affects Them In America”

by Matika Wilbur 

Matika Wilbur is one of the the Pacific Northwest’s leading photographers. Matika, a Native American woman of the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes (Washington), is unique as an artist and social documentarian in Indian Country. The insight, depth, and passion with which she explores the contemporary Native identity and experience are communicated through the impeccable artistry of each of her silver gelating photographs.

She is currently working on Project 562, a national documentary project dedicated to photographing contemporary Native America. Matika is gathering original photographic images and oral narratives from all Tribal communities throughout the United States, organizing and presenting compelling portraits and stories from elders, culture bearers, linguists, teachers, activists, artists, professionals, and other contemporary Indians. As Matika explains, “My goal is to represent Native people from every tribe. By exposing the astonishing variety of the Indian presence and reality at this juncture, we will build cultural bridges, abandon stereotypes, and renew and inspire our national legacy.”

To learn more about Project 562, visit project562.com