Will Wilson's Tintypes

Picks, August 14, 2013

(Will Wilson)

By Tess Cutler

With a movie star name like “Will Wilson,” of course you’d gravitate to film—except Wilson deals with a different type: the tintype kind. Wilson goes retro (think Civil War) in his project Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange, in which he uses a large-format camera to take studio portraits of his sitters (this is tintype lingo). As a contemporary Diné photographer, Wilson’s tintypes are historical and cultural commentaries. In 1895, Edward S Curtis took the first official portrait of a Native American: Princess Angeline, daughter of Chief Seattle. Using Curtis’ process, Wilson reinvents those old snapshots. “In my work,” Wilson says, “there are stories that I grew up with—stories bringing together the cultural weave from which I come.”

Critical Indiginous Photo Exchange:

10:30 am-3:30 pm

Saturday & Sunday, Aug. 17-18.

Free. NMMA’s East Sculpture Garden,

107 W Palace Ave., 476-5072

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