THE magazine

THE magazine: How did you start making photographs of sacred dances of the American Indians?

David Michael Kennedy: I've always been drawn to Indian spiritualism. It made sense to me their respect for family, their respect for the elders, and their respect for Mother Earth. My photographic involvement with them started from a photo session I did of Leonard Peltier. He was involved in a shoot-out at the Pine Ridge Reservation in which two FBI agents and one American Indian were killed. Through many maneuvers, most of them illegal, Leonard ended up being the only person who was tried, convicted, and imprisoned. The conversations I had with Leonard in the penitentiary drew me to the Pine Ridge Reservation. I went there a couple of times and started to meet with the elders, the medicine people, and other leaders. At the same time my circle of friends in Santa Fe grew to include people from the Eight Northern Pueblos.

TM: Why did you want to photograph the Indians' sacred dances?

DMK: Because the dances were and are important-both spiritually and educationally. I felt that they needed to be recorded on film, because if they weren't recorded, they could become lost.

TM: What does the word "sacred" mean to you?

DMK: Sacred is different for each person. For me, sacred is a private place in my heart and soul that I go to for energy, focus, and spiritual well-being.

TM: I've always heard that Indians do not like to have their picture taken because they say it steals their soul. What do you think?

DMK: I've heard that, but I don't find it to be true in present-day society. I've never met anyone who believes that. Additionally, it seems to me that my objective is to "capture" the motion and the spirit of the dance, rather than anyone's soul. I think the people I am working with understand that as well.

TM: Isn't it somewhat of a paradox that the American Indian will allow you-a White Man- to come into their world and photograph their sacred dances?

DMK: I don't think that it's a paradox at all because of the way the project was approached and how it evolved. The first portfolio of dancers of the Eight Northern Pueblos took over four years to complete. The majority of that time was spent gaining the trust and respect of the people. I spent many months explaining the work and my reasons for wanting to do it, as well as dealing with which dances and dancers would be photographed. Although I had complete artistic control, I gave each tribe a great deal of control as to what the content of each photograph would be.

TM: How did you convince them to allow you to photograph them?

DMK: It was very difficult because they are so used to Whites coming to them, talking a lot of shit, and then ripping them off. I started out by talking to a woman named Mary Brewer who became my liaison with the Eight Northern Pueblos. She thought photographing the dances was a wonderful idea, particularly because I offered to give a percentage of the profits from the sale of the photographs back to each tribe. Then it became a question of producing something tangibles photograph-so we could show the governors of the pueblos what I wanted to do. I photographed one dancer, with the understanding that if the governor of that pueblo saw the results of the shoot and did not give approval, I would destroy the negatives and scrap the project. I made the photograph and brought it to the governor, along with a proposal for the project and rough layouts of the portfolio. He was initially upset because I had taken the photographs without his permission. But after I explained the reasons why I had done it that way, and the fact that I had brought all of the negatives with me, put them on his desk, and said, "if this is not acceptable, burn the negatives right now," he began to understand the project and my motives. He took the presentation to the governing body of the Eight Northern Pueblos and after a period of about six months of negotiations, I got permission from the council to do the project. Words can be hollow, and until your actions give weight to them, they are worth very little.

TM: How much involvement did each pueblo have in the photographic process?

DMK: Each pueblo had control over choosing the dance that was most representative of their pueblo and who would dance it-and to a certain extent where we would make the photographs. All of the dances were photographed outside of a ceremonial situation, far removed from any public areas where people could see us making the photographs.

TM: Did the dancers expect compensation?

DMK: I don't know if they expected it but I told them up front that I wanted to pay them to work with me, and they all accepted the fee I paid to photograph them dancing. Each dancer also got a signed palladium print.

THE interview . . .