Toba Pato Tucker's Haudenosaunee: Portraits of the Firekeepers, the Onondaga Nation
Dates: 04-01-2003 to 05-31-2003Location: E.S. Bird Library, 6th floor
"In a village in what is now Canada, a boy was born. This boy would become the Peacemaker. . . . The Peacemaker explained that we were all one family. Each of the Nations was given clans and each clan member would be related. . . . We would live in one big house and the Mohawk would be the Keepers of the eastern door, and the Seneca would be the Keepers of the western door. The Onondaga would be the Firekeepers of this house. We would all be known as the Haudenosaunee, the People of the Longhouse. This is what we were known as, but when the French came to this country they called us the Iroquois and the English called us the Five Nations. In 1724 the Tuscarora were driven out of their homes in what is now North Carolina and they came to live with our ancestors. After that time the English called us the Six Nations. Sometimes people refer to us as the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, but we have always called ourselves Haudenosaunee." Chief Irving Powless, Jr., Wolf Clan. In 1991 Toba Pato Tucker visited the Onondaga Nation south of Syracuse to request permission to photograph members of the nation. No photographer had done so for almost a century. After intensive interviews with Clan Mother Audrey Shenandoah and Chief Irving Powless, permission was finally granted. A studio was set up in the old Longhouse, which Tucker knew was an indication of honor and trust since outsiders are rarely allowed to enter such a building. To give as true a picture of these remarkable people as possible, Tucker used no artificial lighting and only a plain black backdrop. For two years various members would visit her, sometimes alone and sometimes in entire family groups. What was central to these sittings was the soul-to-soul relationship of Tucker to her portrait subjects. "I was also deeply touched by the people's belief in me, their faith that I would use my camera respectfully. . . . The Haudenosaunee, the Onondaga people, present themselves on theses pages. Their portraits and their statements are here of the benefit of their seventh generation. I thank them for permitting me to make it possible." The Book of the Month is curated by Kenneth Lavender, Rare Book Librarian.
