PORTRAITS of native america

“The faces of the Native American people I photograph reveal a profound sense of the sacred. The people in these photographs are descendants of those I first encountered in images by the great photographer Edward Curtis that I admired in a photo history class I attended long ago. I remember being deeply moved by what I saw projected on the screen that day. Curtis’s photographs reveal something awesome (in its truest sense)—something that is majestic and universally human and beyond words. I believe there is a flow of energy in the great photographer’s images that brings them into the present and in turn makes them timeless. It is that sense of awe, dignity and connection to the past that I want to bring to light in the photographs I make.”

—Craig Varjabedian