Curtis films

[Theresa Kishkan]

Curtis made a number of films, in part to finance his photographic The North
American Indian. The first (I believe) was In the Land of the Head-Hunters
about the Kwakwaka'wakw and it was premiered in Seattle and New York in
1914. Another, called (I think) In the Land of the War Canoes, used to be
played continuously in the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria where
large reproductions of Curtis' portraits are hung. It is easy to despise him
now for his staging and poor knowledge of anthropology but how much of what
we know about the early part of the century comes to us through his work? I
keep a reproduction of his wonderful portrait of a Kwakwaka'wakw girl from
the head of Knight Inlet (taken in 1914) by my desk. No doubt that girl
would not have worn her beautiful abalone shell earrings and her cedar-bark
shawl on a daily basis but nor do I wear my grandmother's cameo and cashmere
shawl either. I still have them, and revere them. And am entitled to their
legacy.

Theresa K.
Theresa Kishkan
RR1 Site 20 C11
Madeira Park, B.C.
V0N 2H0
(604)883-2377
Red Laredo Boots (1996); Sisters of Grass (2000); Inishbream (2001)

"Our mark on the map might be rough trails or roads, open pastures, a wild
cartography of longing."