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When Historical Photos Collide, New Meanings Form

Adrienne Vetter

A provocative collection of digitally altered historical photographs has a closing reception in Pinedale this weekend. Artists Colleen Friday and Adrienne Vetter create digitally altered historical images inspired by their own upbringings.

Friday grew up on the Wind River Indian Reservation as a member of the Arapaho tribe; Vetter grew up in nearby Riverton, the descendent of homesteaders. “There’s a tendency especially with identities of settler and Native, to just want things to remain distinct and separate, or pure,” says Vetter. “I think we’re challenging that all the time.” She says both artists experienced “crossing that same border with the reservation, but from different perspectives. And I think our work together is informed by that.”

Vetter says their photo collages cross boundaries, too, between native and settler, exploring power relations, land use, and colonialism. One image shows a gushing oil well; its reflection is a pile of bison skulls. Friday says juxtaposing images has the effect of “changing the meaning of each image and putting them together and making a new meaning. It’s sort of like in beadwork where you have geometric patterns that reflect each other.”

The exhibition has a closing reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 21 at Isabel Jewelry and Gallery in Pinedale.

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