Thursday, June 10, 1976
University Daily Kansan
3
Camera will capture Navajo life
Bv CHARLOTTE KIRK
Staff Writer
While our nation is in the midst of a birthday celebration, one University of Kansas professor will be studying Americans who have been here longer than 200 years.
Gary Mason, director of photojournalism, will photograph and record moments in the lives of Navajo Indians during his sabbatical this fall. He will be working on a Navajo reservation near Farmington in northeast New Mexico.
"I will be documenting the life style for tomorrow's children and for history, because many have lost the original culture." Mason said recently.
"The documentary is basically for the tribe's use for future generations," he said.
"The documentary is basically for the tribe's use for future generations," he said. He was asked to do the film, Navajo Films and was given permission from a Navajo film board to photograph ceremonies, which are usually restricted to members of the tribe.
One such ceremony is a sing performed when a person becomes ill. The family and medicine man guide them. This, like many ceremonies, is quite secretive, and outsiders rarely are permitted to attend. The painters and painpainters that are destroyed when they die
"The families are very close-kit and traditional." Mason said. "The ceremonies are one of the things that bring the families close together."
Mason said the Navajos are tied very closely to the land. Many still live in houses, called hogans, made of mud. The women and children herd huge hooks of sheep, while most of the men work on the reser- under the direction of the tribal council.
Mason will also photograph traditional wedding ceremonies. Although the Navajos have church weddings, they also get married in the Indian ceremony.
Some modernization such as new medical facilities, has come to the reservation, Mission.
"The problem is that we must educate the people to live in modern dwellings," he said, "because many are not used to electric ranges or running water."
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This fall, he will document Indians working, participating in powwows and ceremonies and visiting the trading post, where they trade sheep and food.
Mason's first experience in working with the Navajos was in 1963 when he and his wife volunteered to teach reading, writing and money-handling to the adults.
Since Mason doesn't speak the Navajo language, he will be accompanied by Wilma Redhorse, a Navajo interpreter. Mason will live with Redhorse and her family.
Mason. "When you do research and try to keep up with changes in the field of photojournalism you don't have much time for personal work."
Mason said he thought the Navajos would accept him because he has worked with them before. With strangers, he said, many Navajos are quite camera shy.
*“Doing this project will allow me to get back into work with photography, which is not what I was doing,” she said.
After Mason finishes shooting and recording, which will take about three months, he will organize and copy the documentary. The tapes will have to be translated into English, since they will all be recorded in Navajo.
Although most of the work will be kept by the tribunal council, some of it will come to Lawrence. Spencer Library will receive one copy of the book from Junior College will receive one in Navajo.
"This documentary will also bring Haskell and the reservation closer together," said Mason. More than 100 Navajos attend Haskell.
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The 1976 Kansas Theatre Festival
"The Continuing American Revolution"
presents
a live documentary based on materials collected by B. A. Botkins.
Lay My Burden Down
featuring:
2:00 p.m. in the University Theatre
The Black Contemporary Players of Greater Kansas City
Sunday, June 13
Tickets: $1.50 - K.U. Students: Senior Citizens $2.50 - Others
For reservations and info, call 864-3982.
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