Zoë Marieh Urness (born 1984) is a photographer of Alaskan

Tlingit The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

Native American heritage. She creates portraits of modern Indigenous cultures in traditional regalia and settings.

Early life and education

Urness was born in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, adopted at the age of four and raised by her great-great uncle and aunt. Her guardians fostered her education in tribal arts and history with the Alaskan Native Cultural Heritage Association in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

from kindergarten through high school graduation, ensuring that her Indigenous education was an integral part of her upbringing. While her non-native schoolmates had soccer practices on school nights and games on the weekends, she and her twin sister gathered with other Tlingit youth and elders to don their traditional regalia, learn, practice and share their traditional songs and dances. With her tribe, she traveled the state of Washington, the United States, and Europe performing and sharing their stories as a cultural ambassador. The experience left a lasting impression that would later become the foundation of her photographic work. At the age of seven, Urness received her first camera from her grandmother. Photography became her passion and professional pursuit. She attended college and earned art degrees from Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, Washington and the

Brooks Institute of Photography Brooks may refer to: * Brook (small stream) Places Antarctica * Cape Brooks Canada *Brooks, Alberta United Kingdom * Brooks, Cornwall * Brooks, Powys, a location United States * Brooks, Alabama * Brooks, Arkansas * Brooks, California *Brooks, ...

in Santa Barbara, California.

Early career

After college graduation in 2008, she initially intended to become a magazine photographer and began freelancing in Santa Barbara and Seattle, shooting for ''Outside'' and ''Trend'' magazines. In her early career, she began studying the work of

Edward S. Curtis Edward Sheriff Curtis (February 19, 1868 – October 19, 1952; sometimes given as Edward Sherriff Curtis) was an American photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and Native American people. Sometimes referred to a ...

, a renowned documentary photographer of European descent whose mission was to document Indigenous peoples as a 'vanishing race'. His black-and-white and sepia toned portraits of Native subjects in their traditional regalia comprise some of the earliest and most revered photographic records of Native Americans in existence. Urness saw herself and her own tribal members in Curtis' images, and dedicated herself to capturing and telling the visual narrative of current Native peoples and cultures. In 2014, she launched a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign for her first photo project, 'Native Americans: Keeping the Traditions Alive', intended to "emphasize critically endangered languages captured with video and still imagery." In this project she photographed tribes across the US, including visits to the

Havasupai The Havasupai people (Havasupai: ''Havsuw' Baaja'') are a Native American people and tribe who have lived in the Grand Canyon for at least the past 800 years. Their name means "people of the blue-green water", referring to Havasu Creek, a t ...

at the bottom of the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

, the

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

Second Mesa Second Mesa is a census-designated place (CDP) in Navajo County, Arizona, on the Hopi Reservation, atop the 5,700-foot (1,740 m) mesa. As of the 2020 census, the CDP population was 843, spread among three Hopi Indian villages, Musungnuvi (or M ...

, the Apache Crown Dancers at

Monument Valley Monument Valley (, , meaning "valley of the rocks") is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, with the largest reaching above the valley floor. The most famous butte formations are located in northeas ...

, and Alaskan natives at the Biennial Celebrations in Juneau. Urness became interested in documenting and exploring the nuances of each tribe's expression of their culture and traditions in connection to their ancestral landscape and habitat.

Career honors and accomplishments

Urness has shown her work in international and domestic US art exhibitions, been published in major media publications, had her work acquired by museums, hung her work in galleries in the US and overseas, and participated in many Native art shows and markets. Her greatest honors in the art market circuit include showing her Alaskan work at the Indigenous Fine Art Market and

Santa Fe Indian Market The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...

for many seasons, winning Best in Division and Best in Category at Santa Fe Indian Market for multiple years, and being recognized by the California-based

Autry Museum of the American West The Autry Museum of the American West (Autry National Center) is a museum in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to exploring an inclusive history of the American West. Founded in 1988, the museum presents a wide range of exhibitions and pub ...

, the

Art Basel Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel (Switzerland), Miami Beach (US), Hong Kong and Paris. Art Basel provides a platform for galleries to show and sell their work to buyers, an ...

fair in Miami, the Native Treasures Indian Arts Festival, and the

Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...

Guild Indian Fair and Market in Arizona. In the gallery and museum sector she has shown at Photo L.A. SPECTRUM and several other galleries in New Mexico, Arizona and the UK, including the ZOHI Gallery in Santa Fe, NM (which she co-owned). Her print "December 5th, 2016: No Spiritual Surrender" was acquired by two museums, the Autry Museum of the American West, and the

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. Its collection includes more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing various cultures, including Asian, European, United States, Amer ...

. She has also been in six national and international traveling exhibitions at various galleries and venues in Russia, Washington, D.C., California, Tennessee, Minnesota, New Mexico, Georgia, Arizona, Oklahoma and more from 2017 to 2020. A group of her photographs is a part of the Tia Collection in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her photograph "Dec. 5, 2016: No Spiritual Surrender", at the Oceti Sakowin Camp on Standing Rock Sioux Reservation at the

Dakota Access Pipeline Protests The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests or the Standing Rock Protests, also known by the hashtag #NODAPL, NoDAPL, were a series of grassroots Native Americans in the United States, Native American protests against the construction of the Dakota Ac ...

, was nominated for a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

in Feature Photography by ''

World Literature Today ''World Literature Today'' (''WLT'') is an American magazine of international literature and culture, published at the University of Oklahoma. The magazine's stated goal is to publish international essays, poetry, fiction, interviews, and book ...

'', and appeared on the cover of the magazine's May 2017 issue, "New Native Writing: From Wounded Knee to Standing Rock". She also received awards from the Autry Museum and SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market between 2015 and 2017. In March 2022, Urness received the Sony Alpha+ Female Grant for her "Indigenous Motherhood" project, and is currently in the process of producing this body of work.

Personal life

Urness gave birth to her first child in winter 2021.

Awards

* 2018:

Nomination, Feature Photography Cover of World Literature today May – August 2017 * 2017:

, Best in Photography, 1st place * 2016: SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market, Best in Photography, 1st place * 2016: Autry Museum of the American West, Acknowledgement * 2015: SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market, Best in Black and White Photography, 1st place

Acquisitions

"Raven Tells his Story in the Fog" * 2021: Tacoma Art Museum – Tacoma, Washington * 2018: Western Spirit Scottsdale's Museum of the West – Scottsdale, Arizona * 2017:

: Birmingham, Alabama "December 5th, 2016: No Spiritual Surrender" * 2018:

, 40x32 Desaturated Metallic C-Print mounted to plexiglass Edition 1 of 1 * 2017: Birmingham Museum of Art, 50x40 Metallic C-Print mounted to plexiglass Edition 1 of 1

Galleries

* 2018: Webster Collections – Santa Fe, New Mexico * 2017 to present: Altamira Fine Art, Scottsdale, Arizona / Jackson Hole, Wyoming * 2017: Zohi, Santa Fe, New Mexico * 2016 to present: Mountain Trails Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico * 2015 to 2017: Rainmaker Gallery, Bristol, United Kingdom * 2015: Manitou Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Exhibitions

"Hearts of our People: Native American Women in the Arts", Traveling Group Exhibition produced by

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the List of largest art museums, largest ar ...

* 2020 Fall: Renwick Gallery / Smithsonian Institution Washington DC * 2020 Summer: Philbrook Museum of Art, Oklahoma * 2020 Spring: Fowler Museum UCL A, California * 2019- 2020 September to January: First Center of Visual Arts Nashville, Tennessee * 2019 May to August: Minneapolis Institute of Art Minneapolis, Minnesota "Borrowing the Earth", Russian Traveling Group Exhibition (10 images provided by artist) * 2019 February to March: Orenburg Fine Arts Museum * 2019 March to April: Ufa Fina Arts Museum * 2019 May to June: Izhevsk * 2019 July to August: Noviy Urengoy * 2019 August to September: Noyabrsk * 2019 September to October: South Urals History Museum in Chelyabinsk * 2019 November to December: Tyumen Fine Arts Museum "Beyond Standing Rock", Group Exhibition * 2019 February to August: Santa Fe, New Mexico "Zoe Urness: Keeping the Traditions Alive", Solo Exhibition * 2017–2018 November to May: Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, Georgia "Standing Rock: Art and Solidarity", Group Exhibition * 2017–2018 May to February:

, California "Untitled", Joint show with Navajo Painter Tony Abeyta * 2017 March: Altamira Fine Art, Scottsdale, Arizona

Publications

* 2018 January: '' First American Art Magazine'' * 2017 August/September: Native American Art * 2017 August: I''ndian Country Today'' * 2017 July 3: '' Santa Fe Reporter'' * 2017 May: ''

'' (cover) * 2017: ''Native Peoples'' * 2016: BLOUIN International Art Collector Magazine * 2016: Western Art Collector

References

External links

* Western Art Collector. Issue 152. April 2020. https://www.westernartcollector.com/issues/152 * Native American Art Magazine. August September 2017 Issue. https://www.zinio.com/native-american-art-magazine/august-september-2017-no-10-i386575 * Arney, Sarah. "SHS grad finds herself at Standing Rock". Stanwood Camano News. September 5, 2017. https://www.goskagit.com/scnews/news/shs-grad-finds-herself-at-standing-rock/article_694f41b6-12e8-5555-b391-c2cdbe020f96.html * Jacobs, Alex. "The Santa Fe Zohi Gallery: Amazing Native Art and a Virtual Standing Rock Bicycle Tour". Indian Country Today. August 22, 2017. https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/santa-fe-zohi-gallery-amazing-native-art-virtual-standing-rock-bicycle-tour * Native Peoples Magazine. 2017 issue. * BLOUIN International Art Collector Magazine. 2016 issue. Retired from publication. https://www.amazon.com/BLOUIN-AUCTION-INTERNATIONAL-MAGAZINE-COLLECTORS/dp/B07FM5RTP3 {{DEFAULTSORT:Urness, Zoe Marieh 1984 births Living people Alaska Native women Photographers from Washington (state) Native American photographers Brooks Institute alumni Native American women photographers People from Stanwood, Washington 21st-century Alaska Native people 21st-century American photographers 21st-century American women photographers 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native American artists Tlingit women artists Tlingit artists Cherokee women artists Cherokee artists