Double Exposure at SAM Winding Down

You have until September 9th to see the Double Exposure exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. This is an exhibit that compares and contrasts the photo documentation of the Indigenous America Peoples by Edward Curtis, with native contemporary artists and photographers.

Highlights:

Edward Curtis' view camera. It was cool to see the camera that actually captured some of these images. There was some accompanying documentation included that highlighted the provenance of the object.

Goldentone photographs. I had never heard of or could remember seeing any goldentone photos before. Apparently it is a type of photo paper that has "gold colored" pigment included in the emulsion. I believe these were contact printed from a positive. In the right light they absolutely glow.

Movie Poster: I liked this original artwork for the poster advertising the Edward Curtis full length movie The Headhunters.

Artifacts from the SAM collection that are included in Curtis' images.

A beautiful swan inspired head dress from the SAM collection. It is better than 100 years old.

Here is the image with the headdress as well.

This raven mask is from the SAM permanent collection.

And here is Curtis' capture of the mask with accompanying costume.

To put the double into Double Exposure, included are images and items created by contemporary native artists. This is a blow up of Will Wilson's Komoks Imperial Stormtrooper. This is a melding of the modern and traditional. The original image is a tintype that harkens back to the photographic days even prior to Curtis. I would have like to see the tintype itself.

Ḱanḱagawí (The Seam of Heaven) is a special commission for Double Exposure created by Marianne Nicolson was a spectacular entry piece for the exhibition.

Other artists, such as Tracey Rector contributed video installations as well.

Just a couple of days left before it closed. Re-up that SAM membership if needed (we did) as the exhibition is worth the trip.