Native Light Photo Project is Joining the Global #GivingTuesday Movement

This GivingTuesday, Native Light: Portraits of Native America will celebrate giving by seeking to raise funds to complete the project that will contribute to a better empathic understanding of contemporary Native America. GivingTuesday, taking place December 3rd, is a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and organizations to encourage giving and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Every year on GivingTuesday millions of people across the globe (almost 60 countries) mobilize to show up, give back, and change their communities.

The Native Light Project is a new body of work by award-winning photographer and instructor Craig Varjabedian - portraits of Native American men, women and children that celebrate their powerful traditions and vibrant pasts. The project is seeking to complete the photography and provide an honoraria to the subjects. Along with the collected stories, and through exhibitions and a book publication, Native Light will contribute to a better empathic understanding of contemporary Native America.

These beautiful photographs individually bear witness to subjects’ personal cultural identity, and in that service can stand alone. Together, the photographs with the stories as a curated exhibition and book, will tell a larger, diverse story of families, pueblos, nations and tribes across the American West re-asserting ancient cultural identities.

The greatest impact of this project lies in the collaborative approach to each photo-partnering subject and artist- that shifts that power paradigm of the traditional visual representation of Native American people in American art, updating outmoded ideas about Native cultural identity and representation,”  writes Marquel Musgrave, Tewa, Nambé Owingeh.

Those who are interested in joining Native Light’s GivingTuesday initiative please visit https://bit.ly/2XjRgrW. You can choose a fully tax-deductible donation or one of several gifts (from a calendar to a collectible portfolio) with a partial tax-deductible donation.

Thamu Tsan (The Sunrise), Tewa, Nambé Owingeh.
Photograph ©Craig Varjabedian