Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America

February 17 - March 9, 2016

In conjunction with the Stephen Crane Lecture Series, the Silva Gallery was honored to host Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur, an acclaimed Swinomish and Tulalip photographer and social documentarian. Through Wilbur’s lens, Project 562 aims to photograph citizens of each federally recognized tribe with the goal of shifting the collective consciousness toward recognizing America’s indigenous presence.

A little over three years into this five-year project—during which time the number of tribes on the Federal Register has grown to 566—Wilbur has photographed members of more than 250 tribes, collecting both communal and personal narratives in a range of landscapes. Welcomed into lives and homes, Wilbur seeks to share the stories her people wish to be told. Her images present the striking diversity and detail of contemporary Indian identity and experience. Expressing one of Wilbur's most vital truths of her journey—that Indian identity is inextricably linked to ancestral lands—this exhibition features twenty-four images from Wilbur’s most recent series, Natural Wanderment.