Carmelita Little Turtle

Carmelita "Carm" Little Turtle is an Apache/Tarahumara photographer[1][2] born in Santa Maria, California, on June 4, 1952.[3] Her hand-painted, sepia-toned photographs explore gender roles, women's rights and the relationships between women and men. Little Turtle's constructed photographic tableaux cast her husband, her relatives, and herself as characters in a variety of Southwestern landscapes that serve as backdrops to the dynamics of interpersonal relationships.[2][4]

"The iconography in my work, by that I mean the props and costumes, is a private symbolism rather than one imposed by the dominant culture. The symbolism and mythology that dominant society attaches to indigenous people is nothing more than a salve for a troubled collective conscience. I have no need for that kind of mythology and symbolism. I attempt to imply a timelessness in my work which stimulates feelings that represent past, present, and future."[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference a137 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Farris, Phoebe (2005). "Contemporary Native American Women Artists: Visual Expressions of Feminism, the Environment, and Identity" (PDF). Feminist Studies. 31 (1): 95–109. doi:10.2307/20459008. JSTOR 20459008.
  3. ^ "Little Turtle, Carm(elita) 1952- | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  4. ^ Harlan, Theresa (1995). "As in Her Vision: Native American Women Photographers". In Neumaier, Diane (ed.). Reframings: New American Feminist Photographies. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 115-116. ISBN 1566393329.
  5. ^ St. James guide to native North American artists. Matuz, Roger. Detroit: St. James Press. 1998. ISBN 1-55862-221-7. OCLC 37341203.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)