This episode we hear from Afro-Indigenous photographer Jeremy Dennis who shares insight, concept and approach around their practice. Jeremy also describes a myriad of exciting projects they have going on including Ma’s house, an old family home on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton, NY that he and his family have been renovating.

Learn about all the projects mentioned on this episode and how to support the work at www.jeremynative.com

Jeremy Dennis is a contemporary fine art photographer and a tribal member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton, NY. In his work, he explores indigenous identity, culture, and assimilation. Dennis holds an MFA from Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, and a BA in Studio Art from Stony Brook University, NY. In his work, he explores indigenous identity, cultural assimilation, and the ancestral traditional practices of his community, the Shinnecock Indian Nation. Dennis' work is a means of examining his identity and the identity of his community, specifically the unique experience of living on a sovereign Indian reservation and the problems they face. He currently lives and works in Southampton, New York on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation.

Nothing Happened Here. Jeremy Dennis, 2016

Jeremy Dennis Artist Statement:

My photography explores indigenous identity, cultural assimilation, and the ancestral traditional practices of my tribe, the Shinnecock Indian Nation. Though science has solved many questions about natural phenomena, questions of identity are more abstract, the answers more nuanced. My work is a means of examining my identity and the identity of my community, specifically the unique experience of living on a sovereign Indian reservation and the problems we face.

Digital photography lets me create cinematic images. Nowhere have indigenous people been more poorly misrepresented than in American movies. My images question and disrupt the post-colonial narrative that dominates in film and media and results in damaging stereotypes, such as the “noble savage” depictions in Disney’s Pocahontas. As racial divisions and tensions reach a nationwide fever pitch, it’s more important to me than ever to offer a complex and compelling representation of indigenous people. I like making use of the cinema’s tools, the same ones directors have always turned against us (curiously familiar representations, clothing that makes a statement, pleasing lighting), to create conversations about uncomfortable aspects of post-colonialism. For example, in my 2016 project, “Nothing Happened Here,” stylized portraits of non-indigenous people impaled by arrows symbolize, in a playful way, the “white guilt” many Americans have carried through generations, and the inconvenience of co-existing with people their ancestors tried to destroy.

By looking to the past, I trace issues that plague indigenous communities back to their source. For example, research for my ongoing project “On This Site” entailed studying archaeological and anthropological records, oral stories, and newspaper archives. The resulting landscape photography honors Shinnecock’s 10,000-plus years’ presence in Long Island, New York. Working on that collection has left me with a better understanding of how centuries of treaties, land grabs, and colonialist efforts to white-wash indigenous communities have led to our resilience, our ways of interacting with our environment, and the constant struggle to maintain our autonomy.

Despite four hundred years of colonization, we remain anchored to our land by our ancient stories. The indigenous mythology that influences my photography grants me access to the minds of my ancestors, including the value they placed on our sacred lands. By outfitting and arranging models to depict those myths, I strive to continue my ancestors’ tradition of storytelling and showcase the sanctity of our land, elevating its worth beyond a prize for the highest bidder.

Music/Samples featured on this episode:
Zero 7- Futures (feat Jose Gonzales)
Excerpt recording from James Baldwin, Why We Need Artists

This episode is now streaming on Apple Music & Spotify

This conversation was hosted by Ginger Dunnill of Broken Boxes Podcast