About This Lesson
Use this sorting game to explore how a photographer’s motivations and unconscious bias affect their portraits.Search for the web for “early Native American photographs,” and Edward Curtis’s picturesque portraits are bound to appear at the top. This algorithm-driven gallery implies that for many, Curtis’s vision of Native Americans has become the dominant narrative. But is it a fair and accurate representation of Native Americans at the turn of the 20th century? Does a photographic portrait objectively capture reality, or does it reflect the photographer’s unique perspective and personal motivations? This interactive game features works by five photographers who photographed Native Americans between 1900 and 1910: Edward Curtis, Richard Throssel, Gertrude Käsebier, Benjamin Haldane, and Jennie Ross Cobb. After learning how to recognize each photographer’s distinctive style, students will be able to properly organize the photographs by artist.
