Dignity: Tribes in Transition

The exhibition Dignity: Tribes in Transition captures the fleeting period of world history where traditional and contemporary cultures collide. The black and white portraits of Indigenous Peoples pay homage to these imperiled cultures signaling our collective interdependence and fragility. 

Nobel Laureate Archbishop Tutu states, “The Indigenous Peoples of the world have a gift to give that the world needs desperately, this reminder that we are made for harmony, for interdependence. If we are ever truly to prosper, it will be only together.”

In the words of Robert S. Sobieszek, the late curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, “The dispassionate remove common to most modern portraits is all but absent in these images; in its stead is a passionate complicity between artist and sitter that allows each subject to be memorialized with both beauty and grace.”

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website 

Image: Masai Warrior Initiate, Kenya, 1985. Image copyright Dana Gluckstein.

Whether you go or not, DIGNITY: In Honor of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a collection of iconic photographs by Dana Gluckstein, honors Indigenous Peoples worldwide and celebrates the 50th Anniversary in 2011 of Amnesty International, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights organization. With over ninety exquisite black-and-white portraits spanning three decades, this richly printed coffee table gift book succeeds in distilling the universality of experience that links us all yet never sacrifices the dignity of the individual. Whether photographing a Haitian healer or a San Bushmen chief, Gluckstein infuses each portrait with an essential human grace.

This is a historic book in support of Indigenous Peoples who are among the world’s most impoverished and oppressed inhabitants.  The inspirational text is intended to give a fuller awareness of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted in 2007 by 144 countries. Includes the full text of the declaration.

Tap DIGNITY: In Honor of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to learn more or add this book to your Amazon shopping cart.