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Author/photographer documents Indian culture
CHRISTENE MEYERS of the Gazette Staff Nov 16, 2002
Author and photographer Serle Chapman has created a photographic homage to the Native American culture with two handsome and thought-provoking coffee-table books.
"We, the People" and "Of Earth and Elders" are two very different books with a common theme.
"Of Earth and Elders" has entered a second edition after five reprints.
The recently published "We, The People" is attracting attention for its gorgeous portraits and moving documentation of the contributions, hardship and triumph of native peoples.
From graceful young dancers to wrinkled and wise elders, from Oklahoma to Washington to an Alaskan village and the Flathead Reservation in Montana, Chapman and his tape recorder and camera have documented the frustrations, hopes, anger and insights of Indian people.
Many of his subjects have connections to Montana, either by birth or relatives or through visits on various circuits, including Writer's Voice.
Musician and poet Joy Harjo, for instance, played her saxophone, sang and lectured here. Artist Kevin Red Star maintains his gallery and family connections to Montana. With more than 35 years of experience in art, Red Star's observations represent the earnest and dedicated sense of survival inherent in much of the culture today.
Chapman captures that spirit, both in his portraits and his well-chosen quotations from both famous and little-known Native Americans.
Redstar
Red Star was born in Lodge Grass on the Crow Indian Reservation. He reflects on the artistry of his mother, a bead worker, whose beautiful designs on moccasins, vests and hair barrettes inspired his early-day drawing. His policeman-game warden dad was a moonlighting musician, who with his buddies formed a band called the Reservation Hot Shots.
In Chapman's book, Red Star recalls his dad and the guys "playing all those old Hank Williams honky-tonk and country songs … I was a young guy surrounded by music and art and that combination is still with me when I work."
The book is both a visual and literary assemblage of contemporary Native America, and the author lets the people take their own time, often getting close to the bone in their observations of broken treaties, lost land and life.
Chapman takes an unhurried look at dozens of Indian lives, from author Vine Deloria Jr. to activist Russell Means, tribal chairmen, composers, lawyers, actors, poets, educators, students, journalists, historians and more.
Find out more Kibler & Kirch Gallery, 2815 Second Ave. N., carries "We, The People" and "Of Earth and Elders," royalties of which support tribal colleges of the American Indian College Fund. Call 238-9955.
The Gallery also handles Kevin Red Star originals and prints. Both Red Star and writer Serle Chapman will be at the Dec. 6 Artwalk.
The books are published by Mountain Press of Missoula, 1-800-234-5308.
Whether Pulitzer Prize winner, descendant of a great chief, pageant-prize winner or college drop-out, the insights are thought-provoking, occasionally raw and sometimes troubling.
The diversity of his subjects immediately fascinates. Their observations range from blunt to eloquent, controversial and angry to touching.
The thoughts are as varied as insights into the family structure, the meaning of sacred dances, thoughts on war, observations about the corruption of the younger generation and cryptic criticism of the American obsession with money and profit at the expense of the planet.
"I feel that we will see a great resurgence of our people and I believe our spiritual struggle will prevail," writes Floyd Red Crow Westerman, an award-wining film actor, musician and activist.
He relates the Native Americans' struggle for spiritual and cultural survival to the need to preserve the land.
Their politics range from mildly conservative to militant, but there is a moving undertone of commitment to the culture.
Grace Thorpe reminisces about her father, the legendary athlete Jim Thorpe, and talks of her own efforts to fight the placement of nuclear waste on Indian land.
Chapman took three years to compile "We, The People."
He is a world traveler and adopted son of Cheyenne teacher Henrietta Mann, endowed chairman of Montana State University's Native Studies Department. His biological father, Thomas Howard Chapman, is a decorated World War II Air Force veteran, and his birth mother is Margaret Elizabeth, a member of the European Kalderas tribe.
The family traces its lineage from Europe to the Dakotas, and one of Serle's greatest influences was the late Dakota elder, Fern Eastman Mathias.
Based near Cody, Wyo., Chapman is recently back from Paris, where he finalized a contract for a French-language edition of "We, The People." That will be published in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec and Africa.
"Of Earth and Elders" showcases more of Chapman's gorgeous photographs, but with the bonus of an originally conceived portfolio of animal photos - fox, bighorn sheep, moose, elk, bison, coyote and antelope. Christene Meyers may be reached at 657-1243 or at cmeyers@billingsgazette.com.
