Southwest Native Nations

Steve spent ten years photographing intensively in Southwest Indian country. His book, The People, introduces all fifty Southwest Native nations. The scholar Floyd O'Neil wrote in a review of Steve's book: "Many of his photographs...are destined to become classics in the history of the Indians of our time." In 2022, Steve donated his archive of photographs from Indian Country to the Arizona State Museum in Tucson. He presented a slideshow of these photographs for the Museum’s lecture series in 2023 and speaks with the Museum at length about the stories behind his Native American photographs in this video.

I love photographing around the edges of events, when people let down their guard. Here, Myla Garcia plays behind the kiva during the Feast Day dance at Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, New Mexico. We chose this photo for the cover of "Our Voices, Our Land."
Handprints on a Lakota horse, O'odham Tash Parade, Casa Grande, Arizona.
Jose Lorenzo Pino, war captain, stands guard as the sounds of the ceremony wash over him. Tesuque Pueblo Feast Day, New Mexico. From "The People."
The essence of the Southwest: sun-warmed adobe and a red chile *ristra*. Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.
A war chief guards the kiva at San Ildefonso Pueblo's Feast Day dances, New Mexico. From "The People."
Faren Burch, Southern Ute dancer. From "The People."
I gave Hosteen Mud Kid a ride back to his Monument Valley hogan after he voted in the presidential election in Mexican Hat, Utah. From "The People."
The Jicarilla Apache gather at Stone Lake each year for ceremonial relay races. So much of these three days feels like an Apache camp must have felt in the old days.
Jeannette Larzelere, painted with clay, sits transfigured by the power of the earth on the last day of her White Mountain Apache coming-of-age ceremony. Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona. This may be my single best photograph. From "The People."
Pauline Allen, Navajo weaver, Tsaile, Arizona.
I've collected stories from seven generations of Southwest Indian people. But Native people have lived here for more than 12,000 years. This is truly their home. (Bighorn sheep petroglyph, Nine Mile Canyon, Utah)
A dancer brings the spirit of the buffalo to the winter plaza at San Ildefonso Pueblo's Feast Day, New Mexico. From "The People."
White Mountain Apache women dancing at Jeannette Larzelere's coming-of-age ceremony, Whiteriver, Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona. From "The People."
Danny Soliz, five-year-old Ak-Chin O'odham boy, on a float in the O'odham Tash parade. Casa Grande, Arizona. From "The People."
Families come together in tipi camps each fall on the shores of Stone Lake for the three-day Go-Jii-Ya ceremonial relay races. Jicarilla Apache Reservation, New Mexico. From "The People."
A traveling carnival sets up on the shores of Black Rock Reservoir below sacred Dowa Yallane, Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. From "The People."
Eugene Sekaquaptewa works in the Eagle Clan cornfield below the old village of Oraibi on Third Mesa, Hopi Reservation, Arizona. From "The People."
Cheryle Beecher's daughter, Hualapai, Arizona. From "The People."
A young deer dancer anticipates the gunshot that scatters the dancers, who are pursued by the women and girls of the village and then captured and ransomed for venison, San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico. From "The People."
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