A rare native American living expert in Oklahoma in the middle of the 20th century.

Horace Poolawnever never thought of putting his photos in the museum, or even printing them large enough for binding.

As a member of the Kiowa tribe, Plow had only one exhibition in his life, at the South Plains Indian Museum in his hometown of Anadarko, Oklahoma.

He printed some postcards to sell to tourists, and sometimes the back would say "Poolaw Photo, pictures by an Indian"-but people never know whether his intention is just to depict his people or publicize their traditions.

In fact, in the exhibition "People Who Love Him: Horace Praf's Photography" held by the Smithsonian National Indian Museum in Washington, D.C., most of the photos were taken more than 50 years ago and are now on display. It was not published until 1984 after his death. The exhibition was jointly planned by local scholars Cirica Wa Apache and tom jones. Mitro also served as editor-in-chief of the exhibition catalogue, and Jones wrote an article.

After his daughter Linda Poole, he gained critical recognition. 1989 began to hold an exhibition at Stanford university. Experts began to study the negatives he left behind carefully. Only then did Plough, who recorded the life of rural indigenous people in Oklahoma, become the most important American native photographer in the 20th century.

According to Alexandra Harris, the editor of the project, his works are considered to be more worthy of attention because it was an era when Indians became invisible in the national visual culture. We believe that Plough's photography really fills this gap. "

Expressing love for his people: photography by Horace Plough) Henry Roy Yun series on American Indians and Indian modernity In the past 50 years, one of the earliest American Indian professional photographers gave his Oklahoma community an insider's perspective, which is rooted in traditional culture, completely modern and typical of American culture.

Although photography is only his hobby, Plough used a second-hand high-speed video camera, which journalists used for most of the 20th century to capture daily life scenes on the reservation through news. His works include ordinary birthday parties and family gatherings, as well as amazing portraits of veterans and tribal celebrations, especially the annual American Indian Expo, which is still held in Anadal.

This is very important, Harris said. Plough is not a bystander, but a member of the community.

"In the early and mid-20th century, few local photographers witnessed their community and the diversity he saw as an insider," she said.

That's it. He captured that during the period of local cultural transformation, people were assimilating their own languages instead of being forced as before. At the same time, tribes are also changing, bringing back and incorporating elements of local customs and languages that are prohibited in the reserve.

Horace Plouffe's exhibition was first exhibited at Gustav Ye He Center in new york and the National Museum of American Indians from April to May, 1965, which reflected this combination of cultural influences. For example, in the opening ceremony of 194 1 American Indian Expo, three women in Kiowa Palace ride shiny Chevys instead of horses.

There is a more striking contrast in the smiling portrait of danny Wilhemlms of Oklahoma Broadcasting Corporation. He stands next to George“Woogie, the champion Indian dancer and painter, wearing Comanche costume and headdress, with a tipi behind him and an outdated car parked in the parking lot.

The ceremony of "KDSP" has nothing to do with the World Expo and has also been recorded. There was a wizard ceremony in rural Carnegie, Oklahoma, 1945. Some American flags wearing cowboy hats and other traditional shawls fluttered in the cloudy sky in the west, and several cars cut the whole arc. 1947, the funeral of Agnes Big Bow, a member of Kiowa tribe in Hogg Creek, Oklahoma, was more informal, which directly reflected this point. At the funeral, people carrying coffins, many wearing western-style clothes and hats, are putting western-style coffins on the ground of the stone cemetery. The intersection of the tribe and the American army is an important intersection for Pulau. 1944, his son Jerry was on leave in the navy, wearing a uniform and a feather headdress, which is the main image of the exhibition.

In the same year, in front of a B- 17 flying fortress at MacDeere Air Force Base in Tampa, Pulau took a photo with another Kiowa, Gus Palmer. There, he was trained as an aerial photographer, and his traditional headdress was in sharp contrast with their uniforms.

Nevertheless, sometimes people know that the battle cap is not only a gorgeous piece of equipment, but also acquired through traditional bravery. People who serve in the army are of course valuable.

"Three hundred Kiowas served in World War II, and when they come back from heroic fighting, they can get the honor that the old * * * will give them," Harris said. "So they re-described some of these societies and brought back a lot of royal culture that accompanied them."

In his photos, children are a sad theme, whether they are wearing tweed coats and ties of the 20th century, jeans or local royalty.

The integration of local culture into the broader entertainment field can be seen from the career of Praf's brother Bruce, who served as the chief Bruce Praf in the vaudeville tour and married Peno Bouscau tenor and mezzo-soprano Lucy Nicola, who was called "Princess Vatavaso". Naturally, they will also dramatically pose as plowers.

Another striking example of the collision between modern western tastes and local traditional culture is the photo of Hannah Key Aborn, who wears makeup and has fashionable short hair. In the 1920s and 1930s, she and her mother, sandy Libby Keahbone, wore more traditional braids without makeup.

Laura E smith is an assistant professor of art history and visual culture at Michigan State University, specializing in Native American art and photography. In the catalogue of the exhibition, she wrote that although both of them wore traditional Keowa crowns, it showed how women in the tribe "negotiated the conditions of their female identity".

Capturing such a moment, Pulau was inspired more by the photo news of life magazine than by the local portrait prepared for the museum. Plough does not intend to make a profound sociological examination of the characters he depicts, although his photos often end in this way.

"He never really wrote down why he did these things. So we really have to guess, "Harris said. "In the conversation with her daughter, she talked about her love for these people. Or as simple as when he was a witness.

"Love His People: Horace Poolaw's Photography" will be held at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Indians in national mall, Washington, DC until June 7, 1965, 438+07. The exhibition was jointly planned by local scholars Cirica Wa Apache and tom jones. Director of American Indian Studies at Autre National Center Institute, Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Arts at Western College, and Mitro is also the editor-in-chief of the exhibition catalogue. Jones, an associate professor of photography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also wrote an article for the catalogue.

Update 1 1/30/ 16: The earlier version of this story wrongly attributed the quotation to another curator of the exhibition. To quote Alexandra Harris. We regret this mistake.