Consul General, Deborah Jones at Exhibit Opening

"Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian" Exhibit Opening

May 12, 2006

The opening of "Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian" Exhibit took place at IMOGA, Istanbul Museum of Graphic Arts. Opening remarks were made by Consul General, Deborah K. Jones.

This unique photographic exhibition celebrates the Native American people, their history and culture, and illustrates the broad and extraordinary diversity among North American Indian tribes as chronicled by famed photographer Edward S. Curtis. The sixty modern prints made for this exhibition were drawn from thousands of photographs Curtis made from the last decade of the 19th century until 1930, when he completed the project that became his life's work, The North American Indian, a 20-volume set of handmade books each containing more than 2,200 original photographs. These photographs had an immense impact on the national imagination and continue to shape the way we see Native American life and culture.