On The National Language Photography Exhibit Speaks to the Heart

Curled up in the center of a plain with reaching stalks, there is a woman with a rainbow flair. She wears a black traditional Indigenous skirt speckled with white and banded with pinks and greens. There are long strands of colorful braided cloth wrapped around her waist, gracefully spread in the grass behind her. Eyes contemplatively closed, hand caressing her hair gently, and arms and legs protectively held to her chest, her character embodies pure individuality, acceptance, and patience.

There is a word in Sauk that describes this photograph by B.A. Van Sise: “opyêninetêhi.” In English, “my heart is taking its time.”

In Van Sise’s photography exhibit On the National Language: The Poetry of America’s Endangered Tongues at the Skirball Cultural Center, Native American culture is on full display. One word from various rare Indigenous languages—Tongva, Nahuatl, Plains Sign Language, and more—is interpreted by Van Sise in a photograph. Some words are also accompanied by a poem, titled with the English translation of the word. The beauty of the words lies in the fact that their emotional and poetic connotation only exists in the language in which they were born; through translation, their meanings are lost.

My experience at Van Sise’s exhibit is one I hold close to my heart. Van Sise tells the story of each language in a unique and captivating way, transferring emotion between languages. I also admired his creativity with the photography medium, such as printing one photograph on a tree bark and ripping parts of other photographs to reveal another photograph layered underneath.

Of Van Sise’s 46 works, there were several photographs that particularly resonated with me:

1. Plains Sign Language

Three consecutive gestures made with index finger, meaning “rising man”

The photograph features a person whose body is turned toward the camera, turning their head right to the direction of the morning sun.

Fatigue and determination written on the subject’s face, I’m fond of how Van Sise’s portrayal artfully ties the subject to the symbolic sunrise; in a way, he seems to relay to his audience a sense of reawakening and resolute persistence. Also, language connects with most on a verbal and written basis only—so I appreciated Van Sise’s inclusion of sign language!

2. Navajo

“hózhó, meaning “striving for balance”

Laura Tohe, former Poet Laureate, stands in the center of a desert landscape. She wears a bold turquoise dress and bracelet that match the hue of the sky. Her feet are touching, but her body is leaning to the right, making a diagonal line to the viewer. Right arm slightly outstretched from her waist, she looks like she’s about to fall—but her eyes are shut, and she seems serene.

There was so much about this photograph that intrigued me: the turquoise accent colors, the irony of the word’s definition directly contradicting Tohe’s tilted stance, Tohe’s tranquil expression, and Van Sise’s play on chiaroscuro in the background. I liked that the photograph was thought-provoking, prompting imagination and curiosity from its viewer.

3. Kuemyaay

“hmi’ches,” meaning “we grow and can keep growing”

The subject wears a straw skirt that blends in with a field of dull amber-colored straw.

I was very fascinated with this one because Van Sise puts people and nature in conversation, where they both are capable of flourishing when they are given the space to.

4. Chickasaw

“ishtaaonchololili,” meaning “I grow leaves from them”

This word refers to the profound connection a person has to their heritage and ancestry. The artwork, composed of a photograph of a person with glasses printed on a tree slice with an opaque overlay, reveals a second, underlaid photograph of a framed headshot that suggests a deceased relative. The person’s chest sprouts a long strand of fake, thin leaves, becoming thicker in size as it reaches its end.

To me, Van Sise’s interpretation of this word was extraordinarily unique. I felt that its meaning was one of the more difficult to represent because of the context he needed to provide for it to be understood by the viewer (such as making the connection that “growing leaves” is a metaphor for a person’s descendancy, and that the pronoun “them” refers to a person’s relatives) and the deep emotional connection that the word has to its language. The sprouting leaves are a necessary addition, its three-dimensionality conveying the intensity of the subject’s feelings.

Additionally, I found pleasure in reading the poem the photograph is paired with. The imagery, repetition, and metaphorical language express transcendent pride, connection, and purpose.

While the exhibit explored the history and present of each language in the form of a notecard next to each artwork, after the photographs and poems had such a meaningful impact, I wish that the explanations were more comprehensive and offered more insight than just the region the language was spoken in. I felt that the descriptions were insufficient in thoroughly exploring the languages’ history.

In essence, On the National Language successfully and beautifully explores the facets of language and, more importantly, the complexity of human emotion. Van Sise’s ability to capture immersive stories in photo form in this exhibit is nothing short of remarkable.