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Cara Romero's first monograph, Panûpünüwügai (Living Light) explores the artistic practice of the celebrated Chemehuevi photographer and features written contribution from 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.Throughout her renowned creative practice, Romero has brilliantly challenged dominant narratives of Indigenous decline and erasure, disrupting preconceived notions about what it means to be a Native American. Her sophisticated images simultaneously acknowledge the injustices of colonialism while centering the humanity and vitality of her Indigenous collaborators, inviting audiences to engage in transformative dialogues. Personal, handwritten notes and drawings by the artist reveal process and concept development, helping readers connect with her creativity and studio practice.
This book will accompany Romero's first solo exhibition of the same name, on view at the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College in 2025 and traveling to additional venues. Romero's award-winning work is included in numerous public and private collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, Whitney Museum of American Art, Guggenheim Museum, Amon Carter Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, and Forge Project Collections.
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Cara Romero (b. 1977, Inglewood, CA) is an artist known for dramatic fine art photography that examines Indigenous life in contemporary contexts. An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero was raised between contrasting settings: the rural Chemehuevi reservation in Mojave Desert, California, and the urban sprawl of Houston, Texas. Informed by her identity, Romero's visceral approach to representing Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural memory, collective history, and lived experiences results in a blending of fine art and editorial styles. Romero travels between Santa Fe and the Chemehuevi Valley Indian Reservation, where she maintains close ties to her tribal community and ancestral homelands. Maintaining a studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Romero regularly participates in Native American art fairs and panel discussions and was featured on PBS's Craft in America in 2019.
Jami Powell is the Hood Museum's first associate curator of Native American art. A citizen of the Osage Nation, she holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has focused her research on American Indian expressive forms through an interdisciplinary lens and has published widely.
Joy Harjo, the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. She is only the second poet to be appointed a third term as U.S. Poet Laureate. She has published ten books of poetry and three award-winning children's books. Harjo has taught at universities across the U.S. and has been awarded numerous times for her poetry and activism. She lives on the Mvskoke Nation Resevation in Oklahoma.
Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne Citizen, Cheyenne & Arapaho, Hotvlkvlke Mvskokvlke, Nuyakv) is arguably the most consistent and effective advocate for Native American rights since the 1960s. President of The Morning Star Institute, founding trustee of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, former executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, and Carter Administration political appointee, Harjo has been at the center of almost every legislative, legal, and cultural issue of import to Native Peoples. Born in Oklahoma, she was raised in Cheyenne-Arapaho Treaty territory and on Muscogee allotted farmland on the Muscogee (Creek) Treaty Reservation. She currently lives in Washington, DC.
