This book is co-edited by John Rohrbach, a Senior Curator of Photographs at the Amon Carter Museum, and Will Wilson, a citizen of the Navajo Nation. The foreword is also by Will Wilson. Patricia Norby, Purépecha, the first full-time curator of Native American art at the Metropolitan Museum, introduces Speaking with Light. Essays are by Jennifer Denetdale, Diné from the Navajo Nation, Paul Chaat Smith, Comanche, Jolene Rickard, a citizen of the Tuscarora Nation, and Mishuana Goeman, of the Tonawanda Band of Seneca. Acknowledgements by John Rohrbach and Will Wilson.

Reclaiming the narrative: a major new examination of contemporary Indigenous photography across the US.

This groundbreaking project summarizes how contemporary Indigenous photographers have taken over the conversation about how their cultures and lives are depicted through their dynamic embrace of three interwoven themes: Survivance, Nation and Indigenous Visuality. These photographers enact a key shift away from privileging settler-colonialism, foregrounding instead an Indigenous sense of community and visuality. Speaking with Light reveals and examines these Indigenous artists’ explorations of themes such as identity, the contribution of customary practice to contemporary life, belonging and the assistance that Indigenous worldviews can provide to building healthier relationships with each other and the earth.

The book comprises four sections bridged by transitions and ending with a globalization of the discussion. Texts by key Indigenous scholars are followed by a series of plates illustrating many of the exhibition works. Speaking with Light is a summary statement about the preoccupations and dynamism of Indigenous photography today.

Artists and photographers include: Nicholas Galanin, Sky Hopinka, Zig Jackson, Kapulani Landgraf, Dylan McLaughlin, Alan Michelson, Shelley Niro, Jolene Rickard, Wendy Red Star, Cara Romero, Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie and Sarah Sense. This book contains 90 illustrations.