Late last year, Aaron Huey and I met at his favourite coffee shop in Seattle (the only coffee shop in the city without WiFi, as far as I know). During our chat, his phone was buzzing; on the line was Emphas.is finalising the details of his Pine Ridge Billboard Project pitch.
PINE RIDGE RESERVATION
Ever since Huey’s powerful and viral TED talk last year, he’s been inundated with inquiries from people wanting to get involved and contribute. Huey admitted to being conflicted by his unexpected propulsion into the centre of a nebulous political energy, partly because he doesn’t have all the answers and partly because his work still doesn’t sit well with some of the Lakota community. Understandably, some Lakota don’t want images of broken homes and broken bodies to be consumed by white America. Still, Huey has the faith of the majority within the Lakota people.
With a story so large and important – and solutions so complex – Huey was unsettled with the status and future of his Pine Ridge documentary work; he had not pushed the political issue as far as it warranted. From his Emphas.is pitch:
I have been documenting the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for the past six years. Recently I have realized how inappropriate it is for this project to end with another book or a gallery show. […] Your involvement will help raise the visibility of these images by taking them straight to the public—to the sides of buses, subway tunnels, and billboards. I want people to think about prisoner of war camps in America on their commute to work. I want the message to be so loud that it cannot be ignored.
Emphas.is has given Huey, the Lakota people and us the opportunity to see and react to the work in unmissable public locations. It puts it in the face of D.C. politicians. Huey has enlisted the help of Shepard Fairey and artist and activist Ernesto Yerena who created visuals for the Alto Arizona campaign.
Source: http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~rfrey/329treaties_and_executive_orders.htm
PRISONER OF WAR CAMP #344
Huey’s photographs depict high unemployment, broken families, alcohol abuse and life expectancy lower than that in Afghanistan. The statistics are shocking.
But more than that, Huey’s photographs show the legacy of the lies and broken treaties of the US government stretching back over a century. If the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) had been observed, then the Lakota and associated Sioux tribes would own land stretching across five states.
To refer to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as a prisoner of war camp may seem incendiary to some, but this is how many of the Lakota see their existence. The Black Hills have been stolen and the Lakota live on the most infertile land fenced in on all sides by an encroaching dominant culture that they’ve predominantly experienced as oppressing and damaging. The solutions are not simple, but awareness and a will to action is.
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is prisoner of war camp #344.
EMPHAS.IS
I have offered what support I can to the new crowd-funding platform Emphas.is with articles here on Prison Photography and for Wired.com. Three of the online critics I respect most (Colin, David and Joerg) have also put their weight behind it. I am chuffed to see Aaron’s proposal off the ground and I’d ask you seriously to consider funding the Pine Ridge Billboard Project.
Mock-up of a wall installation using 24x 26″ posters, proposed Pine Ridge Billboard Project
OUTLETS FOR ACTION: Throughout the campaign a website honorthetreaties.org will be formed. Aaron will build the site as a point of reference for those who want to know more about the history and the (broken) treaties of the Sioux and other tribes. There will be direct links to assist grassroots Native non-profits in places like Pine Ridge.The first partner is Owe Aku.
More on Aaron’s blog here.
Buy a 18×24 print signed by Shepard Fairey and Aaron Huey to support the project!
Prison Photography 
16 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 10, 2011 at 2:00 pm
al
Please let us know if you will have t shirts, post cards.
March 10, 2011 at 2:01 pm
fay
Do they not have to honor treaties made with other nations? Can UN, AIM, or the ACLU do anything?
March 10, 2011 at 2:02 pm
mike
Would it be possible to send Native Americans into social studies and teach from Kindergarten to PhDs?
March 10, 2011 at 2:06 pm
charles matthew
There is a petition on the website of the President of the US to honor the treaties made by we the nations of the industio (sic) people of this land. Search for it.
March 10, 2011 at 9:36 pm
pat nespo
How the people know what to do when they see the billboards? They have a lot of petition online to honor the treaties. Can you can do the same if you’re in subways, train stations or airports?
March 10, 2011 at 9:39 pm
lyn maire
Can you keep us updated on were you can put the billboards up and which cities the project is going to?
March 10, 2011 at 9:40 pm
joan widener
How can we send money since we do not have a credit card? Where would we send it?
March 10, 2011 at 9:42 pm
t a kinder
You could set up on Native American game stores – have postcards, t-shirts, posters and [information on] how to send in money and help.
March 10, 2011 at 9:45 pm
cecial k bobinski
What is this supposed to do? They will not give them back anything. even though they don’t use it, they got Mount Rushmore, and they cannot say it is sacred land to them. But when they were going to build near Ground Zero it was another story.
March 11, 2011 at 5:49 pm
mary lo
They are proud and honorable and take care of the land. Give the Black Hills back.
March 11, 2011 at 5:53 pm
joan widener
Smallpox killed thousands and wiped out many tribes. Although the Native Americans fought against the British, they gave their land way. Another bright day for the American government was the Trail of Tears, a great President was Jackson; the Spanish also killed. The US army had to get them when they slept, starve them at Wounded Knee, take children off the woman’s breast and throw the bodies of children.
March 12, 2011 at 7:32 am
Some recent stories worth reading | dvafoto
[…] year. Pete at Prison Photography writes more about Huey’s project and his emphas.is proposal: “Aaron Huey’s Pine Ridge Billboard Project and Prisoner of War Camp #344″. A great summation of the issues involved in the work, Huey’s commitment to the project and […]
March 13, 2011 at 1:39 pm
MARY lou
When and where will you begin? We do not have credit or debit cards. How can you give money?
May 12, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Pine Ridge (We Are Still Here) Print - OBEY GIANT
[…] by Aaron Huey (National Geographic photographer) in support of this project. Proceeds go to the Pine Ridge Billboard Project. […]
January 13, 2015 at 2:32 pm
Dennis Nichols
I have a original photo of what appears to be two Lakota Indians. The photo belonged to George D. Wallace, 7thCavalry. It was presented to him. And there is also a camp #36. Im hoping that someone can help me identify those two Native Americans
March 11, 2017 at 10:54 am
LOOK: Native protesters march Speer to the Capitol - Denverite
[…] “We’re living in a system that doesn’t recognize my people as human beings,” said Lakota activist Sun Rose Iron Shell. She told the crowd that the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, her home, is still referred to as a “prisoner of war camp.” […]