EARTH KEEPERS: PORTRAITS FROM INDIAN COUNTRY
The Indian Wars never ended in America. The Massacre of Wounded Knee in 1890 at Pine Ridge, South Dakota may have marked the last obstacle to the expansion of land theft by the U.S. government and her sanctioned corporations, but for Native people, the fires from those wars continued to burn.
Nowadays, battles from these very same histories take place in corporate boardrooms, state and federal courtrooms, and on reservation and federal lands in varying forms of resistance. All along, the people have been fighting. All along, the women have been at the core of the fight. These are images of Native women warriors and the families I have had the honor of spending time with, some of whom are in my first book Women of the Native Struggle.
Scouts, Big Foot Ride, Centennial of the Massacre at Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, December 29, 1990. These scouts endured -20 degree weather to lead a 300- mile horseback pilgrimage tracing Chief Big Foot’s (Sitanka) route from Bridger, South Dakota to Wounded Knee, (on the Pine Ridge Reservation) where the U.S. 7th Calvary massacred the chief and 150 others (mostly women and children) and buried them in a mass grave. This event occurs annually as an honoring of those who were murdered, and as a healing for future generations.
All images are copyright © RONNIE FARLEY
WOMEN OF THE NATIVE STRUGGLE: Portraits and Testimony of Native American Women, Crown/Random House 1992
Navajo interpreter Esther Yazzie at the World Uranium Forum at the United Nations, New York, 1989
Mae Tso cleans wool from her sheep, Big Mountain area of the Navajo Nation, Arizona, 1986
Five Generations of the Wilson-Tso family, Big Mountain area of the Navajo Nation, Arizona 1986
2008 Reebok Humanitarian awardee Louise Benally at the road leading into Big Mountain, Navajo Nation, Arizona, 2009
Anti-relocation march at Big Mountain, Navajo Nation, Arizona, 1986
Rosalie Little Thunder prays carrying a pipe during the Walk for the Buffalo at Yellowstone National Park, Gardiner, Montana 1999
Lone buffalo at Yellowstone National Park, Gardiner, Montana 1999
Woman on horseback, Centennial of the Massacre at Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, December 29, 1990
Scouts, Big Foot Ride, Centennial of the Massacre at Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, December 29, 1990
Jonnie Clifford with her son Monty, Pine Ridge Reservation, Kyle, South Dakota, 1990
Jonnie Clifford with her grandsons, Pine Ridge Reservation, Kyle, South Dakota, 2012
Red Cloud High School graduation, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, 2012
Shaelynne Clifford with dog, Pine Ridge Reservation, Kyle, South Dakota, 2009
Haida and Malkameen elder Lena Dunston with her granddaughter, Yelm, Washington, 1991
Fishing rights activist Janet McCloud and Anita Paz, Yelm, Washington, 1991
Shoshone activists Mary and Carrie Dann, Crescent Valley, Nevada, 1992
Navajo water rights activists Jihan Gearon and Wahleah Johns, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2009.
Mohawk midwife Katsi Cook tends to a newborn, Massena, New York, 1992
United Houma chief Brenda Dardar-Robichaux cooks food at the Houma community center for their concession stand at the Mardi Gras festival, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2009
United Houma chief Brenda Dardar-Robichaux prays at the shore of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, 2009
Navajo water rights activist Enei Begay with her daughter, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2009
Makah elder and healer Dottie Chamblin, Portland, Oregon, 2014
Dakota elder Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance who delivers medicines to Pine Ridge tribal members, visits her daughter in Chadron, Nebraska, 2011.
Defenders of the Black Hills president Charmaine Whiteface at Cheyenne River, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, 2011
An array of tribal flags line the entrance to the Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock Reservation, North Dakota, 2016
The Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock Reservation, North Dakota, 2016
Militarized police blockade at the Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock Reservation, North Dakota, 2016
Tuscarora cousins Pure Fe Crescioni and Jennifer Kreisberg sing to Winona LaDuke's (center) horse after her long journey to the Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock, North Dakota, 2016.
The Dakota Access Pipeline in construction, Standing Rock, North Dakota, 2016
CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS OF THE AMERICAN WEST
“In Cowgirls: Contemporary Portraits of the American West, Ronnie Farley’s images remind us that the human landscape of the American West was shaped by generations of women as well as men. Countering familiar stereotypes, Farley portrays these modern cowgirls with sympathy but without sentimentality. Cowgirls examines the women’s lives through four basic themes; Ranching, Rodeo, Livestock, and Children. Cowgirls offers a testimony to a way of life in America that is disappearing—a rural world where work rewards those who embrace it with the satisfaction of having lived life on their own terms.”
From Exhibits USA traveling exhibition, supported by the Mid America Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts.
All images are copyright © RONNIE FARLEY
THE DAYS OF SMALL THINGS : MY MOTHER’S KEEPER
“To the world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world.” —Dr. Seuss
When my father passed away in 2003, my mother became a resident at a nursing home in Delmar, New York. At the time, I was living in New York City working at Associated Press, and had just bought a small mountain house in Schoharie county. Not wanting to leave my mother at the hands of an institution, I left my job and the city to spend the next three years traveling hundreds of miles weekly to the facility as her caretaker. My siblings helped as much as they could, but the more I witnessed, the more I understood the dire importance of being an ally for the elderly to protect them from a health system that prioritized money over human life. The Days of Small Things is an upcoming publication of images and prose from this experience.
All images are copyright © RONNIE FARLEY
