A pow-wow is a Native American festival of sorts that involves dancing, singing and generally celebrating tribal origins. The 48th annual Shoshone-Bannock Festival takes place August 11th-14th, 2011 Fort Hall, Idaho and the following photos are from previous years of this event or other pow-wows. There are numerous dances such as the Fancy Dance, Southern Straight and Grass Dance for men and Traditional, Buckskin & Cloth and the Jingle Dress for women. As you can see from the photos, the event is a whirlwind of tassels, colour and feathers.
In a striking contrast to these images, I also unearthed some native American portraits by Edward Curtis. Though I've mentioned this photographer before, it wasn't in much detail so I selected a couple of possible thousands of these tribal figures. Curtis devoted three decades of his life to "a comprehensive and permanent record of all important tribes of the United States and Alaska", the collection reaches 40,000 photos which of course includes well known names such as Geronimo, Sitting Bull and tribes such as Sioux and Cheyenne. Curtis stated his concern that "the passing of every old man or woman means the passing of some tradition, some knowledge of sacred rites possessed by no other. This being said, 'he would often encourage his subjects to recreate rituals which they no longer performed, even providing his own props where necessary' but personally I still admire his dedication and I do find his images rather powerful.
In a striking contrast to these images, I also unearthed some native American portraits by Edward Curtis. Though I've mentioned this photographer before, it wasn't in much detail so I selected a couple of possible thousands of these tribal figures. Curtis devoted three decades of his life to "a comprehensive and permanent record of all important tribes of the United States and Alaska", the collection reaches 40,000 photos which of course includes well known names such as Geronimo, Sitting Bull and tribes such as Sioux and Cheyenne. Curtis stated his concern that "the passing of every old man or woman means the passing of some tradition, some knowledge of sacred rites possessed by no other. This being said, 'he would often encourage his subjects to recreate rituals which they no longer performed, even providing his own props where necessary' but personally I still admire his dedication and I do find his images rather powerful.
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