Pamela j. Peters, DINÉ (NAVAJO), USA

As a Diné multimedia documentarian photographer, my work explores the contemporary narratives of American Indians within the environments and communities that they live in—an “Indigenous Realism,” not ethnographical ephemera. I want viewers to critically analyze the psychological and historical structures of Native Americans in mass media. The photography narratives of my work stem from what I have witnessed and can identify as a Navajo living in the city; the social impact of the negative, inaccurate, insulting images of stereotypical portrayal of American Indians still seen in film and television, and the portraits seen through a non-Indigenous lens. This is what impels me to change how we see American Indians today.