Photos

ETHNOGRAPHIC PHOTO ANALYSIS
Of the North American Indian Cello Project

The photos chosen for this website project provide a visual record rich with meaning. When looking at photos as data, they not only provide a closer relationship with the North American Indian Cello Project, but may also enrich the words and the music, providing additional contextual, political, and cultural information. The photographs were taken by a professional photographer/artist from Manhattan named Cindy Hwang who asked that her work be cited as CYJO. Below, I briefly analyze each of the photographs using a reflexive approach. “Wherever possible I tried to use photographs to represent more than simply their content.” (Pink, 160) ¹ Each photo was chosen to represent important aspects of the North American Indian Cello Project as part of the classical native movement as they refer to scholarly work on the subject by Chaplin, Edwards, Hwang, Pink, Prosser and Schwartz.

Through our use of photographs we can discover and demonstrate relationships that may be subtle or easily overlooked. We can communicate the feeling or suggest the emotion imparted by activities, environments, and interactions. And we can provide a degree of tangible detail, a sense of being there and a way of knowing that may not readily translate into other symbolic modes of communication. (Prosser and Schwartz, 335)²

There are a variety of observations I would like to make regarding the two black and white photographs, titled SAGE 1 and SAGE 2 that are of the pre-concert smudging ceremony. I hope to explain their importance in regard to content, photographic style, caption, and treatment within this project and their weight in the context of my research of the North American Indian Cello Project. What new meaning do these two photographs provide? The ceremony itself, although informal is led by an elder native male and those participating are both native and non-native, professionals and students involved with that evening’s performance. We join together in a public space, outside the Montgomery College Music Building. As seen in the facial expression of the participants they are respectful and quiet, yet again there is an ease with which they stand in a seemingly haphazard formation. Although at the time we were in a circle, the photographer shot us in a wide angle showing only sections of the group creating a close-up view, perhaps creating a more intimate view as it reflects ceremony. Also emphasizing certain members while not showing our whole community. Her decision to shoot these two pictures in black and white is very interesting and I interpret this decision as a statement of privacy, but it may also create a sense of witnessing a “secret,” “illicit” or “old” activity, something not normally done before a classical performance, or outside a Maryland community college. One sees the smoke and the blurred people as if in a sneak preview of the evening’s event and as an intimate ritual of the “other.” This is very suiting as it is not something performers, students, or photographers are often privy to on many levels, as performers before a concert or as a native ceremonial tradition. I chose captions that point out the main players in the event, including their tribal affiliation, the leader’s role, as well as where, when and what we were doing. In context of my Classical Native research, this picture represents a very important aspect of Indian life and how it is reflected in many of the Classical Native performances in that it demonstrates the importance of tradition, including nature, spirituality and community. In the discourse of what makes the music and the movement classical versus native, it separates typically western classical pre-concert behavior from that of native ritual. The two photos “set the stage” for the performance and for this photo gallery not only through its otherness, but through its emphasis on native culture and tradition.

Fieldnotes: Even though there were several details and minor crises to deal with leading right up to the concert, and I hadn’t had time to change or put my make-up on, also my contacts ripped, I wasn’t going to miss burning sage to smudge and having a blessing. I definitely wanted to do it under the tree outside and feel the earth below me and do it early enough so that people wouldn’t be watching and we could have some privacy. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to gather everyone and also wanted to leave it as an open invitation in case anyone wasn’t comfortable with the idea. This moment together to ground and be with the creator and all my students and fellow performer/ composers is so important to me and is ultimately the reason I do it all. They, of course, don’t need to know all that, but some will intuitively know. Basically the way it works is we all stand in a circle and I ask someone to do the honors of saying a blessing and burning the sage as they pass it around. Then we wash ourselves with the smoke, cleaning out or purifying our energy and bringing us all together as one. It grounds me too, and I sure need that. The kids do, too, it’s special to them to feel part of a community, to deal with their nerves and to feel “inside” the culture of the music they’ll be performing.

In “integrating photography into ethnographic research that includes regular viewing sessions with informants” (Prosser and Schwartz, 345), I have asked the photographer about some of her choices. Regarding the use of black and white, Cindy Hwang wrote: “I thought the BW would make the image more timeless and emphasize the smoke more.” This is interesting in light of how I analyzed the possible multiple meanings of this photographic choice. “Expressive photography exploits the potential of the medium ‘to question, arouse curiosity, tell in different voices or see through different eyes’ (Edwards 1997a: 54 cited from Pink, 155).” As seen in this photo and the next, a variety of questions may surface giving greater meaning to this ethnographer.

readers take a self-conscious and reflexive approach to inventing their own storylines or interpretations of the photographic narrative, and are aware that theirs is one ‘single’ understanding, among many possible others. (Pink, 154)

The decision to photograph the THE FOUR COMPOSERS from below may depict many aspects of the composers, the event, the music, and the genre itself. As the composers tower over the viewer from a raised position on stage, one senses the authority and elitism often given classical composers and perhaps an otherness associated in this context with Indians. The avant-garde and contemporary innovation of the music itself is apparent in this visual, as is the newness of the classical native movement. In this wide-angle shot each composer is slightly separate from the others, presenting the viewer with the individuality of each composer’s personality, work and tribal heritage. There is a sense of power, separation and future as these four composers come together from their individual worlds. Is there more of a story here? As one follows their focus, who are they paying attention to, who do they serve? If the first two photos show the traditional, spiritual side of the musicians outdoors in nature, this photo may reflect the opposite in its similarity to urban art photography found in entertainment magazines, album covers and concert announcements. Why represent both in this article? Because we, as Indians and artists, are multi-faceted and many of the pieces on this program are about living in two worlds as the title of the Classical Native “movement” suggests. When I later asked the photographer if she had any specific intention for shooting from below in THE FOUR COMPOSERS she responded, “shooting from below elevates you more on a pedestal and forces the viewer to look up at you - making it more majestic feeling.” (Hwang) The issue of recognition especially coming out of two marginalized communities – that of being Indian, and that of being a contemporary artist, was addressed in very positive ways through its outstanding music and intelligent Q&A sessions, prestigious collaborations and concert venues, high-profile funding organizations, large audiences, and prominent press. This and the photo helped dispel stereotypes of Native American culture and present us in a public form as successful living artists.

The choices we make regarding the roles we play in the field raise a host of procedural and ethical issues. (Prosser and Schwartz, 338)

Fieldnotes: I decided to ask Mohawk dressmaker, Narda Lulg to design some contemporary native outfits for me to wear for these concerts. She’s also a musician and my Mohawk sister, so she was delighted. The turquoise dress is a more traditional Haudenosaunee ceremonial dress and the red vest is contemporary. Both are really pretty and good for concert dress. So now I have to decide do I go more traditional or more western? If I dress more Indian, will it be perpetuating pride and emphasizing the Indian nature of these works, or will it just feed the stereotype of what a predominantly non-native audience would expect? Both outfits are comfortable to play in and the red vest makes me look slimmer, for sure… But I think I’ll wear the traditional dress for the more educational venues, and save the red vest with standard black for the Smithsonian. I’ll have to ask some of the guys what they think. Definitely go to RC (Nakai) for his opinion.

Although I am talking as a performer, rather than as an ethnomusicologist in the above fieldnotes, my decision on what to wear was also part of the negotiation of Native versus European classical. In wearing more traditional dress for educational venues – both Montgomery College and the University of Maryland, I placed an emphasis on its value as a cultural, thus educational, indicator. Two of the Indian men on the program wore items that displayed their heritage, including vests, ribbon shirts, jewelry, and hair adornments while one was in casual or as we called it in NY, “downtown black” and the other who was living in NYC at the time was in black jeans with native jewelry. The Indian musicians wear their heritage and have somehow differentiated themselves as “cultural” performers. In addition, these negotiations reflect specific political, social and tribal issues of identity most of which are public statements, while some remain private to insiders, i.e. Native Americans.

expressive and realist photographs may work together, as metaphors for different types of knowledge. (Pink, 155)

I have juxtaposed the “majestic” smaller group photo entitled THE FOUR COMPOSERS with the more realistic photo entitled Group Shot of First NAICP. This photo presents the larger community of Native musicians who participated in this first event in a concert staged setting that is much more down to earth than the expressively dramatic portrait of its four composers.
The picture of Steven Alvarez and I was shot after our performance of Both Worlds. The piece is the Sarabande from the Fifth Suite by Bach for solo cello, with a new duet part composed by me for Buffalo drum and an improvised vocal in a traditional falsetto style. This picture was chosen because it represents the instrumentation of both worlds – native and classical.