Powwow

By Ben Marra

Seeking to capture the romance and traditions of American Indian life and lore, photographer Ben Marra presents a series of portraits of men, women and children who embody the proud spirit and intensity of the powwow - multi-tribal celebrations of native song and dance held throughout the USA.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810926806
• ISBN13: 9780810926806
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 0.4" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Great photography

The photos in this book are absolutely marvelous. If you are interested in making your own regalia, this will help you get ideas for the finer details. Most of the colorful "outfits" use contemporary as opposed to traditional materials, and with great ingenuity. I believe that the photographers (a husband and wife team) had a terrific eye for what makes beautiful regalia. The photos are expert and visually enjoyable. Contrary to a previous reviewer, I think the plain backdrop works well. Yes, the book is limited in scope to static (non-dancing) poses, i.e. still portraits.And nearly every photo is accompanied by an inspirational paragraph transcribed from the words of the Native American pictured. Good reading! My only objection to this book is that since it was photographed at powwows in the northwestern U.S., it is mainly limited to representatives of tribes in that area. Otherwise, an excellent book!

Pow Wow: Images Along the Red Road

I highly recommend this visually stunning book for anyone with any interest at all in Native American pow wow culture. The color photographic portraits are riveting and the commentary from the dancers themselves is compelling.

Beautiful, unique portraits and statements, wonderful book

A review should on some occasions cut to the chase. Buy this unique and beautiful book for your school library (any age), yourself, gifts. You can see some photos and some of what the dancers said on http:www.halcyon.com/benmarra/ Ben Marra's powwow web page. With his permission, I chose a few pix of young people and what they said for my Fancy Powwow Outfits page at http://www.fdl.cc.mn.us/~isk/art/beads/powwow.html, part of my beads and beadwork section . These give a good idea of the wonderful contents, so here I'll say a few other things. First, a book of portraits of people in full powwow regalia: close up, clear, relaxed, and talking (or a grandma speaks for a little one) about the meanings of it and their personal involvements in their own culture is unusual, unique. We've all probably got little collections of photos we took ourselves of Uncle leading the Grand entry, Sister in her jingledress, etc. Nobody has any like this, though. There's no comparison to books of "taken at powwows photos" put out by other publishers. These are the work of a lifelong pro photographer, who -- together with his wife -- was able to put people at ease and capture character and meanings that work with what the people say to create an integrated work of art -- this book -- that is accessible to anyone from little children to busy city folk, who don't really know what a powwow is. Linda Marra told me almost all the portraits were taken within a 5- minute set-up period, in improvised 'studios,' set up somewhere close enough to the dance arenas for the dancers to move on, but a little out of the way. The portraits are all against a plain brown backdrop/floor. All attention is on the people. Linda interviewed the people for the moving, interesting, and culturally informative statments by each (or parents or grandparents of the littlest ones). Help -- introductions to the people, encouragement, philosophy -- was provided by Bernie Whitebear (Colville), Executive Director of Indians of All Tribes; and by the staff of Iw'asil Youth Program in Seattle (who put on a number of the powwows over the years), and Bob Eaglestaff (Lakota), principal of the American Indian Heritage High School. Tuscarora Richard W. Hill, Sr. (Native American Studies, State University of New York, Buffalo, and National Museum of the American Indian) contributes an interesting preface, which is a good context for most of this review. He explains "I almost came to resent the powwow as a sort of tourist fabrication, a 'minstrel show' put on mostly for white culture-consumers. But the power of the drum is just too much for me to resist....The powwow has now spread from coast to coast, and while some see it as a pan-Indian fabrication, I now see it serves as a vital catalyst for cultural renewal." "Magic happens when individuals take the time to make the beadwork and