Luqaíôt - Kittitas 1910

This gelatin silver print, called Luqaíôt - Kittitas, was made by Edward S. Curtis. The scene is caught in shades of sepia, and the man’s face is etched with the deep lines of a life fully lived. I wonder what Curtis thought as he made this image. Was he trying to capture a moment in time, a person, a culture, or something else? The man’s gaze is fixed on the horizon – is he searching for an answer? Is he remembering the past? The photograph is a reminder that artists – whatever their medium – are always responding to one another, riffing off ideas, and trying to work through how to depict what they see. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, trying to make sense of it all, in their own imperfect, beautiful, and deeply moving ways.