In March 2019, the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum opened its newest exhibition, (Dis)Information: American Indians Through the Lens of Roland Reed.

The exhibit will include dozens of pictorialist photographs of American Indians taken by Roland Reed in the early twentieth century. Reed saw himself as both an artist and an ethnographer; his images are strikingly beautiful but deeply problematic.

Reed constructed romantic scenes that situated American Indians in an imagined past versus contemporary reality. The exhibit will encourage visitors to examine the role “retrospective photography” plays in shaping our understanding of American Indians.

To accomplish this goal, the CSPM is honored to work with Gregg Deal, Pyramid Lake Paiute, an extraordinary artist whose work challenges misconceptions of indigenous people and asks viewers to reexamine stereotypes.

(Dis)Information will include original artwork and commentary by Gregg Deal in addition to contemporary American Indian photographs alongside historic images that celebrate the power and beauty of photography while challenging the assumptions of viewers.

(Dis)Information: American Indians Through the Lens of Roland Reed will run from March 30, 2019 through March 28, 2020.

Join CSPM in a fascinating panel discussion of authors, scholars, curators and artists who will contextualize the work of pictorialist photographer Roland Reed and examine the role “retrospective photography” plays in shaping contemporary understanding of American Indians.