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| Royce "Jake" Yellowplume. Credit: Sara Wiles, 1991. | |
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| (from left) Coulton and Kayla Jean Armour and Robin Chase Alone. Photo credit: Sara Wiles, 1990. | |
This traveling exhibit, organized by the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, WY, included 44 black-and-white photographs of Northern Arapaho Indians taken by photographer and cultural anthropologist Sara Wiles. The traveling exhibit was supplemented by approximately 20 historical items from the Newberry's American Indian collection: treaties and maps related to the migration of the Northern Arapaho people to the Wind River Reservation, photographs of reservation life, language materials related to Arapaho cultural tradition, a story of Arapaho patriotism during World War I, and newsletters from the New Deal era.
The reality presented by a photograph says as much about the artist as the subject. Sara Wiles, photographer and cultural anthropologist, is no Edward Curtis. Whereas Curtis used his photography to capture the "old time Indian" in all his exotic glory, Wiles shows the Northern Arapaho Indians on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming as they really are—members of contemporary society. Working with the Arapaho for over 30 years, Wiles does capture moments of tradition and cultural change, but the majority of her work achieves a kind of honesty and dignity because the subjects and scenes are so familiar. The images speak for themselves—artfully captured moments of peace, recreation, and celebration. However, deeper meaning and context is provided by Wiles' detailed captions. Her narrative gives the viewer insight into Arapaho culture by explaining the subjects' efforts to live "in a good way."