Curtis Zuni Girls

The Curtis Zuni girls seem to be a sad photograph. Everything from the facial expressions, background, color and stances of the figures suggests this. My very first observation in this photograph was the girls. They are standing with depressing expressions on their faces, fully wrapped in blankets and wearing boots allowing only their faces to be shown. They appear to be laboring possibly fetching water for their families. And because of the clothing they are wearing it seems to be cold weather. Both girls have one arm crossed over the other as if to stay as warm as possible. But both girls are wearing boots, which suggests that they either have enough resources to make them.

The fact that their faces are the only skin showing suggests that they live in a culture where women are inferior to men, which could be why they are the ones shown laboring in the picture. Their faces seem dull, no hint of joy. The girl on the left of the image appears to be somewhat forcing a smile, but unsuccessfully convincing the audience that she is in fact happy. Both of their gazes are straight into the lens of the camera which emphasizes them as the main subjects of the photograph. The girl on the right looks relatively young. She appears to only be 17 or 18 years of age, while the girl on the left looks older possibly her mother.

The background of the photograph seems dry, deserted and destitute. The left of the picture seems to be a flat surface that goes on for miles and miles of nothing, while the right has a plateau looking figure. When first looking at the image you would think that there is some kind of drought in the area, but the girls are standing next to a body of water. Perhaps this is the last of the water that exists in the area and even it looks murky and unclean. If this were the case this could add to the reason the girls look so sad. The sepia tone of the photograph also seems to enhance this idea. The orange tone makes everything to appear even more arid. Where is the village they live in? You can’t see any sign of life, which could suggest the girls hiked a long way to fetch water to take back to the village. And the pots on their heads are rather small, so they could possibly have to make more than one trip in a day.

These bodies don’t seem privileged or of high status. They seem underprivileged and deprived of necessities in life. They seem to surrender to someone of a higher position or rank in their community. This figure could possibly be a husband or head of a household. They don’t appear to be powerful bodies, but rather powerless. Whether they are pure or impure isn’t really suggested in this photograph.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12295975@N05/2230297863/in/pool-487771@N21