Cultural // Collective Memory Response

I was struck most by the idea that the way in which Edward Curtis historically photographed Native Americans could be considered destructive to their image within society. Curtis was known to include photos of these individuals hunting, or banishing another tribe, and so on. In this way, it is believed that this gave Native American communities a negative reputation, as how most people learned about them and the images they were exposed to, seemed brutish and savage. It is funny to think about how easily we attribute images we see depicting people or events within certain feelings and notions, and jump to judge them this way. Oftentimes, when these images are historic and we did not have access to the time in which it took place, we learn directly from what we see. I had never really thought about that before... how easily we create foundations of understanding solely through images sometimes; however, in relation to the "Migrant Mother" photo we saw in class the other day, it is true that the message that image conveys so embodies how I believe the Great Depression would have been. What's even more interesting is that the woman in the photograph ended up disliking the way she was portrayed, feeling as if there was much more depth to her situation than that, which draws a parallel to the diverse Native American community.