I was awarded an Artist In Residency at the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in September 2017. The Trading Post is located in Ganado, Arizona, thirty miles from Window Rock, Arizona, the Navajo Nation headquarters. The Trading Post was opened in 1878 to serve the Navajo Nation. John Lorenzo Hubbell purchased the trading post in 1878, ten years after Navajos were permitted to return to their homeland from their exile by The Long Walk at Bosque Redondo, Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. While at Bosque Redondo, Navajos were introduced to many new items and "Indian Traders" like Hubbell supplied those items once they returned home. Don Lorenzo Hubbell was the foremost Navajo trader of his time. Hubbell family members operated the trading post until it was sold to the National Park Service in 1967. The trading post is still active, and operated by the non-profit organization, Western National Parks Association for the National Park Service. They continue the trading traditions the Hubbell family started. I undertook wet plate collodion photography for this residency to make portraits of the Navajo in an antiquated process from 1850's, similar to the photographic process used in the Civil War. I used an old Deardorff 8x10 camera to make "tintype" images. As the Navajo say, Walk In Beauty!
