Will Wilson is a Native American photographer and a citizen of the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...

Early life and education

Wilson was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1969, but spent his childhood growing up on the Navajo Nation. He attended the government boarding school in Tuba City through 8th grade and was then plucked from the reservation and sent to

Northfield Mount Hermon School Northfield Mount Hermon School, often called NMH, is a co-educational preparatory school in Gill, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association. Present day NMH offers nearly 200 courses, including AP and ...

in Massachusetts with a scholarship from the "A Better Chance (ABC)" Foundation. He attended

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

as an undergraduate with a major in studio art and art history, and obtained a

Master's of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

in photography at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

. He has been an

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at the

School for Advanced Research The School for Advanced Research (SAR), until 2007 known as the School of American Research and founded in 1907 as the School for American Archaeology (SAA), is an advanced research center located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. Since 1967, the sc ...

Career

Since 2012, Wilson had been involved in the creation of a project titled the ''Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange'' (CIPX). Inviting a number of indigenous artists and other professionals, they are all involved in the production of various pieces of art depicting indigenous peoples that pose for them. Wilson, himself, uses an "old fashioned, large format camera and the historic wet plate collodion process" in order to create photos that are reflective of historic photographs. The resulting studio photos from him and the other artists have been featured in a number of museums, including the

Denver Museum of Art The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between t ...

and the

New Mexico Museum of Art The New Mexico Museum of Art is an art museum in Santa Fe governed by the state of New Mexico. It is one of four state-run museums in Santa Fe that are part of the Museum of New Mexico. It is located at 107 West Palace Avenue, one block off the ...

. In 2014, Wilson's work was included in an exhibition of contemporary Native American Photography, ''As We See It,'' alongside Matika Wilbur, Tom Jones, Larry McNeil, and Shelly Niro, among others. The exhibition traveled through Russia and in 2016 and 2017, it will visit the American West. In February 2016, Wilson's work was included as a counterpoint to a large show of

Edward Curtis Edward Sherriff Curtis (February 19, 1868 – October 19, 1952) was an American photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and on Native American people. Sometimes referred to as the "Shadow Catcher", Curtis traveled ...

photographs at the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum becam ...

. Wilson is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Studio Art (Photography & Media), at the University of Texas at Austin.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Will Artists from Santa Fe, New Mexico Bicycle messengers Living people Navajo artists Native American photographers 1969 births 20th-century Native American artists 21st-century Native American artists Photographers from New Mexico