Photographer Honors American Indian Heritage Month in Santa Fe

National Photographer Celebrates American Indian Heritage Month with an Open Studio &
Gallery Exhibit in Santa Fe, New Mexico

In honor of National American Indian Heritage Month and the contributions of North America’s First People, professional photographer Marilyn Angel Wynn will host an open studio and gallery exhibit on Friday November 23 and Saturday November 24 between 10am to 4pm at NativeStock Studios, 1036 Canyon Road.

The open studio exhibit will highlight Wynn’s 20-year photographic specialty of Native American traditional cultures and contemporary lifestyles. Wynn’s passion and dedication follows the footsteps and drive experienced by legendary photographer Edward Curtis. “100 years ago Curtis was doing exactly what I’m doing today”, says Wynn, “he’s been my most significant mentor. I’ve picked up where he left off.” Originally shooting colorful images, Wynn creates antique inspired amber gold prints and applies beeswax to give the photographs historic charm.

Even though the gallery examples are dreamlike photographs of Native people dressed in ancestral regalia, most of Wynn’s image collection features contemporary achievements and modern day lifestyles of tribal members and their communities across Indian Country today. Many images have been used on projects by the who’s who in publishing. The client list includes Time-Life, Simon & Schuster, National Geographic, Sunset Magazine, Indian Health Services, History Channel and the Kellogg Foundation.

Equipped with cameras and a sense of humor, Wynn visits tribal communities with great compassion and understanding. This helps her to meet and photograph Native people of all ages who open their homes and share handed-down customs.

“I’m just honored to be able to travel to hundreds of Indian Nations and meet incredible people that have all helped to create this huge body of work”. Wynn adds, “The whole collection will eventually end up in Washington DC at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.”

Originally from Canada, Wynn spent several years honing her craft at a home base in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho. Last May, Wynn packed up her studio with the goal to make Santa Fe her new home. “For over a year my dream has been to have a studio on Canyon Road”, Wynn remarks, “proof enough that dreams can come true”. Features that encouraged Wynn to call New Mexico home are the cultural diversities, talented artists and centuries of history.

 Photography by Marilyn Angel Wynn, Website