Camille Trautman - The Specter of the Young and Indigenous

We are forgetting so that we do not forget. Adopting the tools of the colonizer to resist being defined by the colonizers. We are living, but seeing ghosts. Landscape is a construction.Indigenous peoples have been construed by the colonizer as having an innate connection with nature, as if they are no more than a piece of the landscape in the mind of the colonizer. By projecting an aesthetic of indigeneity, the colonizer creates an indigenous other in order to conquer without introspection. Photography is used as an imperial tool to pillage the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples. The colonizers are perfectly happy to live on the site of a genocide, believing that language can purify even the most toxic pollution. The genocide, the pollution, the pillage, these will not be washed away through the power of language. These atrocities are here with us now. Indigenous people must reject any fake consolation and construct their own landscape and language to resist being defined by the colonizers.

Indigenous people are using contemporary technology to project to the world their own stories, culture and language. These Young and Indigenous individuals I have photographed are using a podcast to revive their Lummi language and culture. They and I are not using traditional Lummi mediums of cultural expression. Our use of contemporary technical supports is forgetting old mediums of cultural expression, yet we are ensuring our traditional cultures and languages are not forgotten. My photographs expose this process. By taking a single exposure with multiple projected images contained within, I draw attention to the concept of splitting and projection in the ongoing history of interactions between the colonizer and the colonized.

I have created photographs that remind the viewer that what they look at is a photograph, not a window. I have eschewed realism in depicting these individuals. The long exposures in these photographs gives the subjects a transparent, ghostly appearance. They are connecting with ghosts of the past and are leaving their own legacy.

Now’ si’am, Eliza Julius se ne snat. Che Xwelemi’ sen

Hello friends and relatives my name is Eliza Julius. I am from the Lummi Nation Reservation.

I am honored to say I am African American, Hawaiian, San Carlos Apache, Nooksack Tribe, And an Enrolled Lummi Nation Tribal member.

In this first picture I am on Lummi Island reading a book of my poems. This place is significant to me because of the beauty and the relaxation in the air. This is where I wrote a lot of my poetry.

I didn't grow up traditional, but I take every opportunity to learn about my people’s history, culture, and traditions. I dedicate my heart to our youth! I'm doing my part to acknowledge and spread the resiliency of our community and pushing to end the Intergenerational Trauma that resides in our Lhaq’ te ‘mish (People of the Salish Sea).

Now’ Siam Michelle Polasky sen a snat’ che xwlemi sen.

Hello friends and relatives my name is Michelle Polasky and I am from the Lummi Nation.

I am a member of the Young and Indigenous Podcast team. Being on my ancestors' homelands and shorelines helps me stay grounded to my culture and my people, so I chose to be on the shore of the Stommish Grounds in the Lummi Nation for this photoshoot. This picture expresses my connection to my homeland and my work that I do to help create the podcast episodes.

Now'siam Klem Wi' Selwit' sen a snat' che xwlemi sen. Hello my friends and relatives my name is Kyla Polasky and my Indian name is Klem Wi' Selwit'. I am from the Lummi Nation. Currently I co-produce Young and Indigenous Podcasts at Children of the Setting Sun Production and I am a sophomore at Northwest Indian College. In the picture I am located at one of my personal favorite beaches in Lummi, WA. It is on the west side of Lummi and has the most beautiful sunsets. I am thankful to be able to call Lummi my home. Hy'shqe!

My name is Isabella James. My Indian name is Qunicy^ia. I am Native American and an enrolled Lummi Tribal member out on the Lummi Indian Reservation. I am 25 years old. I was born and raised here all my life-- never moved anywhere else. I have a 20 month old son, things that I love to do is work out and take care of my family and do things for my community. What it means to me to be Indigenous? Being Indigenous to me is very important, I am a full blooded Native American- Natives on both sides of the family. I have Strong Indigenous ancestors before me that fought for who we are today; our culture was almost lost so I want to continue to hand down our traditions to our younger generations coming up.

In the photo I am sitting in a roundabout when you enter the Lummi Indian Reservation--the first thing you see. I chose this location because I really liked the totem poles and the fact that it resembles the water where we live, with the rocks and the logs: this is what our beaches look like. We are people of the water, the Salmon People.

I’m sitting in my regalia next to the totem pole I’m holding my clappers that I use to sing with. Then there is a photo of me and my brother under it doing my podcast that I’m producing called Young and Indigenous. I’m wearing a cedar hat and have my clappers and paddles that are on my regalia. My regalia was made by Danita Washington, my elder that I look up to very much. I’m just sitting here taking in what our ancestors left us today.

The kind of work I have been doing here at CSSP is getting connected more with my culture. Last year me and my co-workers started a project called Young and Indigenous; we do interviewing and podcasting. We are also learning our language and doing other things throughout the community for our people. The work we are doing here is traditional and within our culture what our people left for us and fought for and want us to continue on with our children and younger generations.

Our traditions have been passed down from generation to generation just doing it in a new way with all our computer stuff but we haven’t created new ones they have just been passed down from our elders. What we learn from them is embedded into us.

Here you see the mixed talent of what we do with our daily life to what we do in our cultural life. What we are doing here shows who we are and what we like to do, in a way.

Ey’ Skwial etie skwial mekw elheltalnexw. Quincy ce ne sna ne sasschin sechiseng che yaculta sto’lo etse Kwakwaka’wakw tl’e ce Chinook Elheltalnexw, tl’al che sen Xwlemi Elhtalnexw tl’e ce Snex’mene it Shchitsu’umsh Elhtalnexw. Good day people, Quincy is my name and my blood flows from the white rapids of the Yaculta People up near Cape Mudge, on Quadra Island B.C. all the way down to the Chinook Indians of the Chinook River the borders Washington and Oregon. From the lands and the people of the San Juan Islands east over the mountains to the Interior Salish People of the Spokane, Cour’D Alene, and Kalispel People. I am enrolled Lummi Nation near Bellingham, WA. But I can’t say that I am just Lummi, which is why I choose to use the phrase “ne sasschin sechiseng che” My blood flows from…

The area the photo was taken was at the Lummi dike. A man-made dike road made between 1926 and 1934. Pre- dike being built, the Nooksack river flowed into Lummi Bay. Building of the dike diverted the flow of the river and ever since the Nooksack River empties into Bellingham Bay. I chose this area because it’s of significance to my people. When the tide goes out the sandy mudflats provide plentiful clam harvest. Today Lummi Nation runs a hatchery. I once heard that we are the farmers of the sea. To me it kind of resembles the current lifestyle we Xwilmexw Elhtalnexw walk. The walking in two worlds. The mudflats resembling how we have always harvested our bounty from the sea floor, and the hatchery resembling how we adapt with the way the world changes. We grow with all walks of life that mother nature and father sky has provided for us.

To put into words what you are seeing. We would say “Tsyet-sen” I am putting my hands up to you. A high form of respect throughout the Salish Sea. Thanking the creator for our history and thanking him for our today. And thanking Mother Nature for all the bounty she provides to not only survive but to thrive. I do not think this is a revitalization or a reinvention at all, but a continuance of Xwlemi Schelangen i Chilangelh. Ways of life and inherent Rights. We as Salish people have been here for thousands if not upon thousands more years. And science is only beginning to credit the oral history of the Salish people. We have always been here, and we continue to not only survive but thrive here as Xwilmexw Elhtalnexw. I really love how my Dekw’Dwabsh family say it. We Are Still Here; it does not get any more authentic than that. We are still here living, breathing and living our way of life every day.

Sxano Tsyet sen langet etse ne kwenosem I langet etse ne sxwiam etie skwial. Tiwielh sen se o’mekw elheltalnexw etie skwial. O’mekw elheltalnexw. Estitem-sen tse mekw’ skwial.