Why We Look Again: Aaron Huey at Pine Ridge

5 minute read

Aaron Huey has photographed the Oglala Lakota for seven years. The community of Sioux is confined to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, about 75 miles southeast of the Black Hills. In 1890, it was the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre. Today, it’s one of the most impoverished counties in the nation—a ground zero for substance abuse, gangs and domestic violence. It’s also a final resting place for millions of misinformed opinions that nothing else happens there. Huey’s photographs have been widely published, but the issues and stereotypes remain, and so we look again.

Huey, 37, is based in Seattle. He first ventured onto the reservation as part of a larger story about nationwide poverty, but after wandering into Manderson, one of the more violent areas, he refocused the project on life there. “It was where the first people took me in,” he says. It became his home base and, over the years, he would go back because their plight deserved more attention. Anyone can stick around for a while, but it’s what they do in that time, and who they meet, that makes a difference. Huey’s new book, titled Mitakuye Oyasin, translates to “You are all my relations,” (a phrase used when someone enters or leaves a ceremony), is a testament to that.

But just being there didn’t equate to street credibility. Huey says he’ll never be accepted because, as a white man, he represents the country’s past steeped in oppression and is an easy target for anger. Yet, as he wandered their streets, and witnessed their traditions, and captured their struggles—with his eye in the viewfinder and index finger on the shutter—he gradually formed relationships. He’s close with Travis Lone Hill, who he met early on and who, despite being a Gates scholar, has at some point worn three other hats: Gangster, prisoner, new father. They bonded as Huey captured their struggle to honor heritage, but not to dwell on it.

Access was a years-long challenge. He could photograph before and after ceremonies, but not during. And when they thought he wasn’t capturing the reality of it all, they’d say: “Why are you doing this?” He would ask himself “Why am I doing this?” and recalibrate. His TEDx talk in September 2010 changed that. Huey sounded more like their ambassador than documentarian. In some ways, he was. His photographs became the sole information source about how they scrape by, and he urged Americans to understand its history of calculated hate against Native Americans. When he went back to the reservation, they trusted him more. They took him in deeper, so he went in deeper.

And for that reason, Huey doesn’t consider this book cut-and-dry photojournalism. He didn’t approach every scene with the limitations that bind news photographers and he didn’t shy away from being asked to participate in situations, like a ceremony, that made him part of the spiritual renaissance he was photographing. Instead, it’s his reality. It’s what he saw. It’s what he felt. “It’s not about exactly who that person is, or exactly what they were doing that day, and how exactly it fits perfectly in the context of this story,” he says. “What I am doing is showing you what I see when I close my eyes and think about this place.”

Huey didn’t include captions, specifically so he wouldn’t hold the reader’s hand as they thumbed through his photographs. It’s open to more interpretation that way. He knows that may lead some people to instinctually view the frames as dark—like the one of C.J., the young boy bathing in a sink, who could symbolize sadness and neglect—but Huey says that also leaves room for light to trickle in. “They have only one bathroom in a house that had 22 people at the time. The sink was cleaner. It was a more logical place for this three-year-old to take a bath,” he adds. “That family, I know, takes care of each other.”

Mitakuye Oyasin shows what he saw, even if it wasn’t the entire story. “It’s not going out of its way to make everything perfectly balanced,” he says, “but I don’t feel like life there is balanced.” He didn’t create the book to give them a voice either. “The people have always had a strong voice. It has just been hard to hear,” he says, instead calling himself just a “megaphone” for the voices already there. And that’s enough for him.

When Huey first arrived, he was treated like all the other journalists who trickled onto the reservation—shunned from the stereotypes they hope to quickly capture before fleeing back to comfort zones. Now, many call him their brother, uncle, friend. They are all his relations.


Aaron Huey is a photographer and frequent contributor to National Geographic. Huey is based in Seattle.

Andrew Katz is a writer for TIME. Follow him on Twitter @katz.


In The Shadow of Wounded Knee
These photographs were taken between 2006 and 2013.A young boy plays with a bow on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Oglala Lakota (Sioux). They are the tribe that suffered the infamous Wounded Knee Massacre, in December of 1890, in which over 100 unarmed women and children were killed. Since that day Wounded Knee, and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, have been a symbol of the wrongs inflicted on Native Americans by the descendants of Europeans. Pine Ridge is also the quintessential example of the failures of the reservation system, with staggering statistics on everything from violent crime to education.Aaron Huey
PRINT Teenagers disregard the threat of a summer storm in the town of Wounded Knee. On December 29, 1890, at least 146 Indians were killed by the U.S. Army near here. For the Sioux and other Native Americans, Wounded Knee remains a potent symbolÑgeographically and politicallyÑof historic injustice.
Teenagers disregard the threat of a summer storm in the town of Wounded Knee.Aaron Huey
Mass grave at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.
Mass grave at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.Aaron Huey
PRINT Stanley Good Voice Elk, a heyoka, burns sage to ritually purify his surroundings. In Oglala spirituality, heyokas are recipients of sacred visions who employ clownish speech and behavior to provoke spiritual awareness and "keep balance," says Good Voice Elk. Through his mask, he channels the power of an inherited spirit, which transforms him into Spider Respects Nothing.
Stanley Good Voice Elk, a heyoka, burns sage to ritually purify his surroundings. In Oglala spirituality, heyokas are recipients of sacred visions who employ clownish speech and behavior to provoke spiritual awareness and "keep balance," says Good Voice Elk. Through his mask, he channels the power of an inherited spirit, which transforms him into Spider Respects Nothing.Aaron Huey
A buffalo head sits on a fence post to dry and cure, Oglala, SD.Aaron Huey
A young boy running through the village of Pine Ridge, SD.Aaron Huey
Sundance and preparation at Rick Grey Grass' sundance.
Preparations for a Sundance at Thunder Lake, Wakmani Lake, SD.Aaron Huey
Children in the front yard of a home in Manderson, SD.Aaron Huey
PRINT Three-year-old C. J. Shot bathes among dishes. The Oglala concept of tiospayeÑthe unity of the extended familyÑmeans that homes are often overcrowded, especially with the severe housing shortage on the reservation. In 2008, when this photograph was made, 22 people lived in the three-bedroom house. "These houses aren't who we are," says Oglala activist Alex White Plume.
Three-year-old C. J. Shot bathes among dishes. The Oglala concept of tiospaye, the unity of the extended family, means that homes are often overcrowded, especially with the severe housing shortage on the reservation. In 2008, when this photograph was made, 22 people lived in the three-bedroom house. "These houses aren't who we are," says Oglala activist Alex White Plume.Aaron Huey
An old photograph of Chief Red Cloud hangs with a child's school picture in a house in Manderson.Aaron Huey
PRINT A young man suffering from the effects of a neurological disease and alcoholism sleeps in the living room of his home, six miles from the nearest town. Since the photograph was made, in May 2011, the house has been condemned, and he and the other occupants have moved elsewhere.
A young man suffering from the effects of a neurological disease and alcoholism sleeps in the living room of his home, six miles from the nearest town. Since the photograph was made, in May 2011, the house has been condemned, and he and the other occupants have moved elsewhere.Aaron Huey
The basement of a home in Manderson, SD.Aaron Huey
A young boy with a Halloween mask, Manderson, SD.Aaron Huey
A young girl plays in a basement with graffiti covered walls, Manderson, SD.Aaron Huey
Rudy Vargas in his home in Pine Ridge.
Drawings on the wall of a home in Pine Ridge, SD.Aaron Huey
James poses with guns that belong to their gang.
A member of the Wild Boyz gang in Pine Ridge, SDAaron Huey
Housing in the town of Manderson, SD.Aaron Huey
A young couple kissing through a fence at the Oglala Nation Pow Wow, Pine Ridge, SD.Aaron Huey
A car wreck near Loneman, SD.Aaron Huey
A young man in Manderson, SD.Aaron Huey
PRINT A passenger barely has room for the journey home as a car is loaded with used clothing donated by a Colorado-based Native American charity. Contrary to popular myth, Native Americans do not automatically receive a monthly federal check and are not exempt from taxes. The Oglala Lakota and other Sioux tribes have refused a monetary settlement for the U.S.'s illegal seizure of the Black Hills, their spiritual home.
A passenger barely has room for the journey home as a car is loaded with used clothing donated by a Colorado-based Native American charity. Contrary to popular myth, Native Americans do not automatically receive a monthly federal check and are not exempt from taxes. The Oglala Lakota and other Sioux tribes have refused a monetary settlement for the U.S.'s illegal seizure of the Black Hills, their spiritual home.Aaron Huey
Lakota Pow Wow
Shannon County, South Dakota, home to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, has been among the top 3 poorest counties in the United States for the past 30 years. The historic site of the infamous Wounded Knee Massacre, Pine Ridge continues to be the setting for an ongoing massacre within the tribe today. Gangs on the reservation have gone out of control, and the violence they live by grips even the smallest villages. But at the Oglala Lakota Nation Pow Wow (Lakota Sioux), which is held every year in Pine Ridge, it is a time for celebration and a chance to reflect on the Lakota culture. Many gang members participate, shedding their Tupac Shakur and 50 Cent (rappers) shirts to dance.Aaron Huey
PRINT Spiritual Ways After intense communication with the spirits, participants emerge from a steaming inipi, or purification (sweat) lodge. This ceremony was held by Rick Two Dogs, a medicine man descended from American Horse.
Spiritual Ways After intense communication with the spirits, participants emerge from a steaming inipi, or purification (sweat) lodge. This ceremony was held by Rick Two Dogs, a medicine man descended from American Horse.Aaron Huey
PRINT Nine-year-old Wakinyan Two Bulls places prayer flags in a tree near Mato Tipila ("bear lodge"), or Devils Tower, in Wyoming. The story of the OglalaÑtheir spirituality and their fight to remedy old wrongsÑgoes well beyond the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Nine-year-old Wakinyan Two Bulls places prayer flags in a tree near Mato Tipila ("bear lodge"), or Devils Tower, in Wyoming. The story of the Oglala, their spirituality and their fight to remedy old wrongs goes well beyond the Pine Ridge Reservation.Aaron Huey
Sun dance scars on Cane Young Man Afraid of His Horse, Oglala, South Dakota.
A young sun dancer and his scars, Pine Ridge, SD.Aaron Huey
A storm comes into the town of Manderson, SD.
A young boy and truck, Manderson, SD.Aaron Huey
Rudy Pretty Hips, WhiteClay, NE.Aaron Huey
A child's grave in Pine Ridge, SD. Aaron Huey
Horseback riders on the Crazy Horse ride travel from Chadron Nebraska to The Crazy Horse camp at Beaver Wall.
Horseback riders on the Crazy Horse ride travel from Chadron, Nebraska to The Crazy Horse camp at Beaver Wall.Aaron Huey
PIne Ridge Indian Reservation
Water tower on the edge of Pine Ridge, SD.Aaron Huey

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