She Sang Me A Good Luck Song: The California Indian Photographs of Dugan Aguilar

Description

…If you are unacquainted with the California Indian world, shed all your preconceived notions and give yourself over to a new experience.”

She Sang Me A Good Luck Song: The California Indian Photographs of Dugan Aguilar is an exhibition revealing the richness and vibrancy of Native California cultures, featuring the works of Dugan Aguilar (Mountain Maidu/Pit River/Walker River Paiute). Aguilar, a well-known photographer of Native life, spoke his heart through his photography.

Aguilar’s photos defy the romanticized and melodramatic images by which Native people are often depicted. Ranging from portraits of military veterans, basket makers, and dancers to meditative landscapes, Aguilar’s work documented—and contributes to—the perseverance and renewal of Native California’s living, vibrant cultures.

Dugan Aguilar, a documentary photographer, documented California Native people and cultures for over 40 years and exhibited his work throughout the United States and Europe. He was staff photographer for the California Indian Basketweavers Association and California Indian Storytellers Association and contributed photographs for the book Deeper Than Gold: A Guide to Indian Life in the Sierra Foothills by Brian Bibby.He resided in Northern California before his passing in 2018.

This exhibition is supported by Heyday Books and the Native Cultures Fund of the Humboldt Area Foundation and curated by Theresa Harlan (Kewa Pueblo/Jemez Pueblo).

Dugan’s photography embodies the ancient spirits of giving and sharing: it’s visual poetry that resonates through time with the land and the people gently, yet assertively…Beautiful and insightful photographic storytelling for all people of the world.

Larry McNeil, Tlingit photographer and scholar, professor of photography, Boise State University.