The Last Tribe of Europe

Over the last thirty-five years Native-American association have been flourishing in Europe. They follow different tribe's tradition depending on their interests, friendship binds with the tribes who taught them how to play, sing, dance and make their own outfits. Members are not trying to become Native-Americans, nor are they trying to preserve Native-American culture. Instead, they are borrowing from this culture and strive to represent it, as best they can, as it can be witnessed today in North America. Gathering to socialize, members enjoy emulating, creating and sharing craft-work, outfits and new traditions. In this age of impersonal communications one can create its own avatar and educate people in issues affecting the original Native-American Nations in ways that resonate with European contemporary culture, while creating a parallel and constant evolution. Native American culture is very much alive and well, though our perceptions of it are often open to interpretation. In this series, I want to portray, through visual contrast, this mixture of cultures, their strong connection with Native-Americans and their goodwill to emulate the American First Nations. One’s outfit becomes a second skin, reflecting the personality, experiences and pathway one chooses to follow. Blending such personal expression of self with the European physiognomy and the Native American mysticism yields an unexpected symbiosis. I traveled throughout Europe documenting such gatherings. Powwows have served for hundreds’ of years as means to socialize, mourn and celebrate important events, they are in modern times the most important aspect of Indian culture. My approach is, to not be only a collector of images, but to have an interactive barter with my subject that can translate into an image. Using instant film I can instantly establish this interaction giving them the photos. Later with the help of brush and bleach I produce a negative from the ghost image in the back-paper.