"Oglala Lakota: Chasing Hope"


  • Photographer
    Quoleena Sbrocca
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    September 2011
  • Technical Info
    medium format b&w images

I personally printed each image on Epson Exhibition Canvas Satin and then gallery and museum wrapped them, which I presented at this year’s Cherry Creek Arts Festival, in Denver, CO, 38x30x1.5”, 30x24x1.5” and 20x16x1.5” in size.

Story

Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota is considered to have the highest number of alcohol and drug abuse of all Native American reservations in the United States. Due to the remote location of Pine Ridge and resulting lack of employment opportunities, unemployment is over 80%. Many Oglala Lakota families on the reservation are living in third-world conditions with no indoor plumbing, insulation, or solid foundations. Deaths occur each winter due to the freezing weather conditions and lack of insulation, real windows, and heating systems.

I was completely ignorant of the living conditions on Native American reservations until I visited Pine Ridge. During my time there, I met two incredible families and their beautiful children. From all the stories I heard while there, the feeling is that the adults, who are relegated to living in such decaying conditions have lost hope of a brighter tomorrow, yet, the children were full of delight, innocence, and the ability to find reasons to smile and games to play in the midst of it all. By photographing what life is like in Pine Ridge for many of the Oglala Lakota, I aim to remind us that each human life matters, and we all deserve reasons to smile.

My series of images were photographed on the Oglala Lakota Reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota with my Mamiya RZ Pro. All images were captured with Ilford black & white film, then drum scanned. My work from Pine Ridge is a series of landscape, portraits, and still life documentary photography. On my trip to the reservation, my intent was to capture what I saw and what inspired me. Each still life and landscape image is a capture of found objects – neither manipulated nor arranged by myself – but photographed as I discovered them. In the portrait images, I merely observed the subject and waited for a precise moment to freeze in time, such as in, “Playtime.” For this capture through my viewfinder, I patiently watched as the girl approached from the distance, and I waited for her to arrive on the anticipated plane.

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