Short documentary on Aaron Huey's Pine Ridge work

[dreilly]

Some of you know Aaron Huey's documentary work on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He gave an emotional and powerful TED talk about the experience some years ago, and just this month his work was published in National Geographic (along with an article that I didn't think did the photos, or the story, complete justice). Now there's a short documentary about his work, which is worth watching as it speaks to the position of a documentary photographer as an outsider/observer/advocate. It of course also speaks to the plight of the Oglala Sioux.

http://vimeo.com/47043218

 

[kai.zorki]

Great link, it is really sad how bad the american goverment is treating the natives.
Perhaps the public is just not interested and so the politicians have no pressure to change something. Maybe campaigns like this can help.

 

[dreilly]

Most of the public has no idea. They think of it as something in the past, even if they recognize that there was injustice...they don't see it as continuing.

I liked the discussion of how Aaron changed his position from outside observer to advocate, in a way that reminds me of Salgado's approach (though not aesthetically very similar).

The Black Hills are unbelievably beautiful...I wouldn't want to sell them, either.