Edward S. Curtis Photos

It's astounding that just over a century or century and a half ago the old, indigenous way of life persisted on this continent: a non-industrial, non-Christian way of life. A way of life, in fact, demonstrating a whole other way of being in the world. When Edward S. Curtis started photographing Native Americans in the 1890s many of the old ways were gone, therefore many of the images were recreations. We take as a given that our way of life is the natural way of living, or at least the best. The benefits of technology are clear, and for this we should be grateful, but it also helps to contemplate what is lost, and to bring forward what's worth bringing forward when we can.