Carm Little Turtle, Sandía y el Diablo with Woman Done Wrong
Carm Little Turtle
1952-2016
Apache/Tarahumara
Date
1991
Medium Specific
Black and white photograph, sepia with oils.
Classification
Photograph
Dimensions
Framed: 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Accession Number
2009.20.10.54
Credit
Gift of the Artist
Memo / Artist Statement
In my work, composition, balance in the painted surface and aesthetics are more important than the articulation of meaning. If an image succeeds in making a statement, it's exciting. In order to keep a narrative piece open ended, I commonly shoot images so that the models' faces are not seen. Viewers are allowed to make their own interpretation. I try not to capitalize on the spiritualism of my heritage by giving the impression that I have, through images, a monopoly on the spirit world, it deals with sex, food, and money, the politics between men and women, the human spirit, the need to communicate, and the importance of humor in that quest.
I pose my models against unobtrusive background, or the rugged terrain of Northern Arizona, or the exquisite mountains and clouds of New Mexico because, beauteous as these are by themselves, they also act as metaphors of the politics between men and women. I stage some scenes with the models' faces facing away, to suggest the dreamy poems of inner reflection or solitary journeys. I selectively apply oil paint on black and white sepia toned photographs to heighten the visual experience. The props and costumes in my work are icons in my private symbolism. I'm not interested in the prettified mythology that Euro-american culture glues to indigenous people.
My mother was an artist and proved to be a major influence on my work. My earliest memories are of paints and the painted surface. My own attempts to blur the boundaries between photography and painting are the result of that influence. She graduated from Navajo Community College in Tsaile, Arizona, Navajo Nation in 1978. She attended University of New Mexico in Albuquerque where Barbara De Geneveive was her photography instructor. She resided in Bosque Farms, New Mexico in a renovated New Deal 1930 loft, a state historical building near the Rio Grande and cottonwood trees and her half quarter horse and Mustang Sierra.
-- Carm Little Turtle, 2009
I pose my models against unobtrusive background, or the rugged terrain of Northern Arizona, or the exquisite mountains and clouds of New Mexico because, beauteous as these are by themselves, they also act as metaphors of the politics between men and women. I stage some scenes with the models' faces facing away, to suggest the dreamy poems of inner reflection or solitary journeys. I selectively apply oil paint on black and white sepia toned photographs to heighten the visual experience. The props and costumes in my work are icons in my private symbolism. I'm not interested in the prettified mythology that Euro-american culture glues to indigenous people.
My mother was an artist and proved to be a major influence on my work. My earliest memories are of paints and the painted surface. My own attempts to blur the boundaries between photography and painting are the result of that influence. She graduated from Navajo Community College in Tsaile, Arizona, Navajo Nation in 1978. She attended University of New Mexico in Albuquerque where Barbara De Geneveive was her photography instructor. She resided in Bosque Farms, New Mexico in a renovated New Deal 1930 loft, a state historical building near the Rio Grande and cottonwood trees and her half quarter horse and Mustang Sierra.
-- Carm Little Turtle, 2009
Biography
Carmelita "Carm" Little Turtle (Jun 4, 1952-Oct 16, 2016) was an Apache/Tarahumara photographer born in Santa Maria, California. She shot in black and white, developed the gelatin silver prints in a dark room, and hand-tinted her photographs. Her preferred tool was a vintage Minolta camera with a 55-mm lens. Her artwork also explored relationships, especially between a woman and man. Her 'Earthman' series from the early 1990s was one of her most popular, in which she carefully choreographed scenes with her husband, family members, and friends who acted out the characters.
Little Turtle attended the Navajo Community College, graduating in 1978. She also attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she studied photography. She also studied photography at the College of the Redwoods, Eureka, California. She was a registered nurse at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, where she explored relationships and witnessed much human drama unfold. (A.Meredith, First American Art Magazine, Winter 2016/17:102)
Little Turtle attended the Navajo Community College, graduating in 1978. She also attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she studied photography. She also studied photography at the College of the Redwoods, Eureka, California. She was a registered nurse at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, where she explored relationships and witnessed much human drama unfold. (A.Meredith, First American Art Magazine, Winter 2016/17:102)
Date of Bio