Zitkala-Sa 1898

Curator: Ah, the delicate melancholy of this portrait, taken in 1898 by Gertrude Kasebier. She called it "Zitkala-Sa". Editor: It’s immediately striking. There’s such a sense of interiority—almost a burdened pensiveness in her expression that's underscored by the floral wallpaper that seems to press in on her. Curator: Precisely! It has this layered romanticism to it. Kasebier, part of the Pictorialist movement, knew how to suffuse an image with feeling. Zitkala-Sa, also known as Gertrude Bonnin, was a Yankton Dakota writer, composer, educator, and political activist. Can you feel the weight of her gaze? Editor: Absolutely. Kasebier uses soft focus and lighting here, characteristic of Pictorialism, which on one hand adds a dreamlike, ethereal quality, but on the other hand seems to intentionally obscure Zitkala-Sa, as if mediating access to her. Curator: A fascinating point. Do you think the very act of romanticizing her image also distances us from her reality, her struggles? I mean, the image has echoes of wedding photography – not that dissimilar from other photos of white women from this period in these kinds of gowns. Editor: It raises a crucial tension, doesn’t it? The dress and pose, while aesthetically beautiful, place Zitkala-Sa within a very specific, and perhaps limiting, Western frame. But the historical context adds another layer: boarding schools at that time attempted to erase Indigenous identities. The assimilationist project aimed to civilize by forced education, banning Native languages, and imposing European names and customs. The picture holds Zitkala-Sa between worlds. Curator: A collision of identity...It is a complicated and yet stunning image. And the weight of what you said...well, I am deeply moved. Editor: Precisely. An important image for all those reasons, capturing not just a likeness, but a life caught in the crosscurrents of history and identity. A real reckoning of what Zitkala-Sa dealt with in her life, really.