‘Speaking with Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography’

Showing now through May 22 at the Denver Art Museum

BY CHANCY J. GATLIN-ANDERSON SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

In 1977, writer and philosopher Susan Sontag said in her book, “On Photography,” that “to photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed.”

Photography can tell a thousand stories. roughout the past several decades, visual anthropologists have studied Sontag’s work along with that of other writers, researchers and philosophers. Some anthropologists argue that the purest form of photography is that which is captured by the individual, documenting their own life and shining a light on selfhood, human behavior and even deep, personal struggle.

At the Denver Art Museum’s newest photography exhibition entitled “Speaking with Light: Contemporary Indigenous photography,” more than 30 Native photographers have come together to tell their own personal stories of struggle, erasure, anger and stereotyping. ey’ve also visually depicted their stories of humor, joy, perseverance and the Native spirit.

“As an exhibition, one of the aims of the artists is to reclaim and takeback the narrative about Indigenous people in North America. It is people who are given a voice and an opportunity to make pictures that address a lot of historical issues about stereotyping, invisibility, poverty and violence. But it isn’t all about that,” said Eric Paddock, curator of photography at the Denver Art Museum. “It isn’t all about blame or throwing the darker parts of our history into high relief. It does that, but there are also pictures that express the importance of family, and of community, and the value of memory in the everyday lives of Indigenous people. In those respects. ey’re not that di erent from the needs and hopes of other people.”

“Speaking with Light” is one of the rst major museum surveys to

If You Go

The “Speaking with Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography” is on display at the Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Ave. Pkwy. through May 22. The exhibition will be included in general admission, which is free for everyone 18 and under every day, as well as museum members. To learn more, visit denverartmuseum.org.

explore the practices of Indigenous photographers working over the past three decades. e exhibition was organized by the Amon Carter Museum of Art in Fort Worth, Texas, where it debuted before its presentation in Denver. It includes new commissions and recently acquired works from the Amon Carter Museum’s collection alongside loans from artists and other institutions.

e colorfully curated exhibit is divided into four sections. e exhibit takes visitors on a journey of the Native experience, beginning with depictions of Native people taken by White photographers, and ending with a story of resilience.

e rst section entitled Prologue: State to State features photographs made by White photographers when Indigenous leaders traveled to Washington, D.C. for treaty negotiations. ose leaders may not have been happy about what they heard from the U.S. government, but they projected strength, agency and

Make-A-Wish Colorado alumni, volunteers celebrate its 40th anniversary

BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

2023 has already been a big year for Make-A-Wish.

Wish Week fundraisers have been in full swing at local schools this winter, and basketball legend Michael Jordan donated $10 million — the largest individual donation ever — to the national organization last month. And spring 2023 could be even bigger.

Make-A-Wish Colorado celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and is hosting an anniversary celebration and fundraiser in April in Denver. Since it started, Make-A-Wish Colorado has granted more than 6,000 wishes for children with critical illnesses as a way of giving them hope and something to look forward to during their treatment.

Golden’s Ben Bontrager, 10, went to Hawaii for his wish last spring. He was diagnosed in early 2020 with Burkitt’s lymphoma and was sick for almost a year, with his mom Sarah saying, “We almost lost him a couple times.”

Ben, who’s now in remission, said going to Hawaii was “the rst thing idea that popped in my head,” because he wanted to get out and do something fun.

“I was sick of being home,” he continued.

Now, Ben and his family are becoming Make-A-Wish ambassadors so that they can help other families through the same process.

Dad Je Bontrager said Ben’s wish was a “bright spot” to think about during those long days at the hospital, adding, “ e thought that (MakeA-Wish) has done it over and over for people, it’s really pretty amazing.”

For Jennifer Joan Mazak has been the proverbial fairy godmother for thousands of Colorado children after she founded the organization in 1983. She started it in honor of her daughter, Jennifer, who died at 7 years old of a liver disease.

Mazak recalled how, about a week before Jennifer’s death, she was granted an uno cial wish to meet local radio mascot KIMN Chicken. He stopped by the family’s house, walking around the entire property hand-in-hand with Jennifer. Many of the neighborhood children stopped by to see KIMN Chicken, but he was focused on making Jennifer feel special.

“It was great for her to be able to have that,” Mazak said.

After Jennifer’s death, Mazak used funds that people had raised for a liver donation to start Make-A-Wish

Colorado. ere were only three other chapters in the country and no national organization yet, she said. e local chapter was all volunteers working out of their homes, helping to create memories for children who needed them. Mazak said the very rst wish was to catch a sh, so they set up a shing trip at Dillon Reservoir.

Longtime volunteer Gary Aboussie recalled wishes to meet the pope and the Broncos. One of his favorite stories was sending a guitar to Bruce Springsteen to sign, him keeping that one, and sending back his own guitar instead with a special message. Mazak said of wishes: “ ey come in all shapes and sizes. ere are so many logistics to putting together a single wish. It’s di erent for every single family.”