Larry McNeil (born Larry Tee Harbor Jackson McNeil) is a Native American photographer and printmaker. His photographs range on subjects and formats from realist portraits to tribal elders, from abstract cityscapes to electronic manipulations of tribal environments. His images are considered personally meaningful as they are representative of tribal realities and highlight the sensitivity behind the representation of Native Americans.

Early life and education

Larry McNeil was born in

Juneau, Alaska The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...

on May 12, 1955 into the Killer Whale House, ''Keet Hit'', of the Northern Tlingit and was raised in both Juneau and

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. This made him a member of both the Tlingit and Nisga'a tribes. He received his education from

Brooks Institute The Brooks Institute was a private for-profit art school in Ventura, California. It was formerly the Brooks Institute of Photography and was originally based in Montecito and Santa Barbara.Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

Career

Larry McNeil describes himself as a product of both the traditional Tlingit culture and mainstream North America, with an emphasis on the Tlingit aspect. In 1983, he worked with Alaska Native Foundation and produced Yupik Eskimo women weaving distinctive grass baskets. Later in 1986, he created seventeen portraits of tribal clan leaders in Northwest Arctic School District. In the same year, he was nominated as vice-president of the Native Indian/Inuit Photographers Association; he was also an instructor at the

Institute of American Indian Arts The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic S ...

as well as a commercial photographer. McNeil is currently an associate professor of photography at

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

Works

McNeil's sequence of photographs titled ''Fly By Night Mythology'' was well received. Emeritus Professor of American Literature, Mick Gidley, commented that the sequence "represents both recovery of history and, photographically, creation ''through revision''" in a manner that "frames in photographs - both old and new - a national myth that incorporates the first Americans". The sequence features a series of archive photos from McNeil's family history of growing up in

Anglo-American Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

culture juxtaposed with images of his Tlingit tribe members, as a representation of his own mixed ancestry and of the relationship between the two histories. The early photographs in the work are also a symbolic representation of traditional Tlingit stories, featuring examples of "Raven the Changeling and Trickster playing the protagonist", along with representations of interactions between Chief Pontiac and

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

Honors and awards

* 1983: Award of Excellence, Public Relations Society of America * 1983-86: Merit Award, Advertising Federation of America * 1992: Outstanding Photographic Technical Quality and Outstanding Outdoor Photography, Native Inuit Photography Association * 2006: "All Roads" Photography Award,

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

Notes

External links

Indelible: The Platinum Prints of Larry McNeil and Will Wilson
NMAI {{DEFAULTSORT:McNeil, Larry 1955 births Living people 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native Americans Alaska Native people Artists from Alaska Boise State University faculty Brooks Institute alumni Institute of American Indian Arts faculty Native American photographers Native American printmakers Nisga'a people People from Juneau, Alaska Tlingit people