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Project 562 is the fourth and most ambitious of Ms. Wilbur’s creative projects that address core Native American values and experiences – among them food sovereignty, remarriage (a term that can refer to seed sharing, knowledge sharing or restoring female identity), kinship bonds and reciprocity. (A Project 562 book will be published by Ten Speed Press next year, and an exhibition by the nonprofit Photoville is scheduled in Times Square from June 4 to 26.) But most importantly, by her own account, Ms. Wilbur’s personal experience is, He also went deep with sitting with seniors like John Trudell, an activist who died in 2015, and said he suggested he convey “what it means to be human from a Native perspective.”
This interview has been edited and shortened.
Why is collaboration with your subjects important for your portraits?
My soul name is Tsa-Tsique, meaning Teaching Woman, so it’s my responsibility to be a messenger and a good relative when trying to tell these stories. Each of the people I photographed chose what to wear, where to be photographed, and what questions they wanted to answer. They share a mission to change our view of Native America.
Because of this shared purpose, I think it put me in so many situations photographically, they chose a place because it was emotionally important to them. When I was photographing tribes outside of Zion National Park in Utah, I really wanted people to be in front of those big red rock formations under that blue sky, and they said, no, it’s okay. Just take a picture of me on my front porch.
Has the project changed over time?
Initially, it was about overcoming stereotypes of skinned and furry Indians. How can we help people understand that Native America is complex, that everywhere we are is Indigenous land, that there is an Indigenous identity that is always around you if you choose to listen and interact? It was definitely about that.
Then, as time went on, I became interested in other things beyond narrative editing work. I guess I was aiming to get to know the cultures and identities I was hoping for as a kid. When I was younger, my mother had a Native American art gallery and we had songs from the Haudenosaunee singer. Joanne Shenandoah. I played your album over and over again. And I would try to imagine what it was like to be in one of their longhouses. So it was a big moment when I visited him.
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