Social Justice speaker and photographer Matika Wilbur spoke Thursday night to UW-Madison community members in the Elvehjem Building about her photography project that is focused on documenting Native Americans of every federally recognized tribe.
Wilbur, a Native American woman of the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes, is the founder of Project 562, a photography project that is dedicated to addressing the stereotypes surrounding Indian Country, and meant to drive conversations about the systematic appropriation of Native American culture. It discusses how U.S. citizens can evolve beyond the co-opting of indigenous images and traditions.
Wilbur began her project when she “realized that the American dream didn’t include us.”
According to Wilbur’s website, the goal of the project is to gather the 21st century image of Native Americans and share it with a contemporary, dynamic eye, as well as expose the variety of the Indigenous presence and reality.
Wilbur said she hopes to create enough material that we can all acknowledge Indigenous intelligence.
Wilbur said historical amnesia has allowed us to forget how this nation was built. She hopes to remind people by telling the stories of every tribe through her photos and asking them what they think it means to be an American Indian.
She emphasized that systematic racism is present in society today. She used the audience to show that very few people could name more than five Native American tribes, but everyone could name all 50 states.
Wilbur said that animosity has been seen recently around the country toward women, people of the LGBT community and racial minorities. She also voiced her concern over the many situations of systematic hate that have been happening against minorities on college campuses since the presidential election earlier this month.
“I have heard campus administrators saying, ‘We are supporting free speech,’” Wilbur said. “Instead of saying ‘We will not allow racism to go on here.’”
