What About Ghost Dance??

“There is something in the human spirit that will survive and prevail, there is a tiny and brilliant light burning in the heart of man that will not go out no matter how dark the world becomes.”

Leo Tolstoy

Happy 2018!!

 Life has changed for me. In a big, radical way. Over the last year, I’ve gone through some major changes. They’ve been mostly psychological, but some are physical.

So, what has changed? Nothing and everything. I mean that in the way that things seem to be the same, but deep down inside, we know they’re not. We know something terrible is about to happen (anxiety). A heavy, dark weight we carry in the backs of our minds every day.

There’s a huge divide in our country, and even in our world. People are very anxious and very scared. We’re all in freefall, or so it seems. We’re uncertain of almost everything now.

We’re here because of an epistemic crisis. An epistemic crisis is a crisis of knowledge; we don’t know what’s true or false anymore. Have you been around your friends, coworkers, and family? Have you heard the absolute crazy rhetoric that comes out of their mouths? Almost everyone I know has had someone in their life that supports the current administration. And all we can do is wonder how they can accommodate and assimilate the craziness that is Donald J. Trump. It baffles the mind!

One of the reasons I’m writing this now is that I’ve been deeply affected by Trump’s election. It’s taken my desire to make photographs away. Not just making photographs, but it’s rented space in my head. I haven’t been able to work on my Ghost Dance project for almost a year. I appreciate the inquires about what happened - it was a recent question about it that prompted this writing - thank you.

I’ve told a few people why I’m not working on that project - it boils down to respect. I DO NOT want to release work that deals with genocide and American “exceptionalism” in this environment. Most people tell me it would be received better today than in a less hostile time. I disagree.

One of the first directives Trump signed was the DAPL/Keystone pipeline. He was inaugurated on January 20, he signed the DAPL/Keystone pipeline approval on January 24. It spoke volumes to me.

Since then, I’ve seen the Commander in Chief stand in front of a portrait of Jackson (Trail of Tears, owned slaves, etc.) and talk about Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) from Massachusetts being called, “Pocahontas”. WTF?? Are you kidding me? And here’s the “kicker” - the two gentlemen standing next to him were the last of the Navajo Code Talkers that were very instrumental in winning World War II.

There are so many more examples of this kind of vitriol, I don’t have the time to write them out. You know what they are - they happen almost every day.

All of this, and it’s still ongoing, affects my creative life deeply. I don’t mind confrontation, I have no problem defending my work, it’s just that I DO NOT want Native Americans to feel like I’m dredging stuff up to create more problems in their lives. It can wait. I’m going to wait until I have an environment and audience that can appreciate and understand the work.

Having said that, let me address the blacksmithing/bladesmithing. I need a creative outlet. I teach once a month (or more) and that is a lot of fun, but I need a solitary way to create. I have a long history with metal/steel fabrication. I owned a shop that built wood burning stoves! Before that, I was a lowly grinder/apprentice for the local union. I’ve paid my dues with metal/steel fabrication. I wanted to return to it and feel good about going onto our land in a few years with everything we need - skill sets and equipment will go a long way.

Short Video On Wounded Knee and Ghost Dance

Native American Massacres from Quinn Jacobson on Vimeo.

Ghost Dance Statement

"Ghost Dance: Native American Massacre Sites"
Photographs by Quinn Jacobson

"I have seen in my mind that some time, after I am dead, light-skinned bearded men will arrive with sticks spitting fire. They will conquer the land and drive you before them. They will kill the animals who give you their flesh that you may live, and they will bring strange animals for you to ride and eat. They will introduce war and evil, strange sickness and death. They will try and make you forget Maheo, the Creator, and the things I have taught you, and will impose their own ways. They will take your land little by little, until there is nothing left for you. I do not like to tell you this, but you must know. You must be strong…because you are the perpetuators of life and if you weaken, the Cheyenne will cease to be."
Sweet Medicine
Cheyenne Prophet

The purpose of this project is to remember the suffering and to transmit that memory in order to fortify conscience, to plead for decency, to strengthen values, and to intensify a commitment to human dignity.

Bruce Johansen and Robert Maestas, in, "Wasi'chu, The Continuing Indian War", said, "The first people who lived on the northern plains of what today is the United States called themselves ‘Lakota,’ meaning 'the people'," a word which provides the semantic basis for Dakota. The first European people to meet the Lakota called them ‘Sioux’," a contraction of Nadowessioux, a now archaic French-Canadian word meaning ‘snake’ or enemy.

The Lakota also used a metaphor to describe the newcomers. It was Wasi'chu, which means "takes the fat," or "greedy person." Within the modern Indian movement, Wasi'chu has come to mean those corporations and individuals, with their governmental accomplices, which continue to covet Indian lives, land, and resources for private profit.

Wasi'chu does not describe a race; it describes a state of mind. Wasi'chu is also a human condition based on inhumanity, racism, and exploitation. It is a sickness, a seemingly incurable and contagious disease which begot the ever advancing society of the West. If we do not control it, this disease will surely be the basis for what may be the last of the continuing wars against all people that believe in a better way."

My images deal with genocide and the broken treaties of the mid-to-late 19th century in the western United States. There is a long, sordid history of European occupation and genocide of the native people starting in the 16th century in North America. After defeating resisting Timucuan warriors, in 1539, Hernando de Soto (Spanish) had 200 Native American men, women and children executed. This was the first large-scale massacre by Europeans on what became American soil. This was called, "The Napituca Massacre".

I've selected the massacre sites of the 19th century because of my location (Denver, Colorado), my own heritage, and because of the photographic process I'm using (Wet Collodion). My intent with these images is to represent the horror, betrayal, injustice, and genocide; they are not documentary images. In the end, this is not only about land, it's about the greed of humanity, the indifference to suffering, the intolerance of difference, and the human condition. It's about the Wasi'chu.

In 2005, I had my DNA tested through The Genographic Project (National Geographic). My Y-DNA (father) is Jewish and my mtDNA (mother) is Native American. My mother's heritage goes back to the Ket people or Yenisey ostyaks people. The Ket language is virtually the same as the Navajo or the Na-Dené languages of North America. My mother comes from the Navajo tribe of the southwestern United States.

Growing up, I was conflicted about how to think or feel about this diverse, and unique, heritage. My father told stories about his grandfather always telling him to not disclose his Jewish heritage. And, at the same time, my mother would be telling me about my uncle hunting and fishing on the Shoshone-Bannock reservation (Fort Hall) in Idaho where he lived. This started, what I now know as, an identity crisis for me. I was confused about what I was hearing and wondered why I came from two peoples that were not wanted by the Europeans and both experienced genocide. My heritage, or the tension in my identity, has been the muse for the majority of my work.

Making landscape images of these sacred places has burdened me with the anxiety of showing the proper respect and, at the same time, making engaging art. It's challenging and difficult. A lot of these places are truly beautiful. For me, it's almost like making a portrait of a person. In the spirit of the Indians of all tribes, it does feel like the land is alive. I believe that every one of these sites has remnants of the people murdered there and that the land remembers what happened there. It's palpable if you are present and look long enough. I want the viewer to feel, and contemplate, both the beauty and the horror of these places.

What do we do with this history? I say we embrace it, study it, wrestle with it and transform it into a weapon for the human spirit; one that will enlarge our sense of responsibility, alleviate human suffering and strengthen our moral resolve.

"I have come to kill Indians and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God's heaven to kill Indians."
Colonel John Chivington
1864, Sand Creek Massacre
Sand Creek, Colorado