A new book, In Light and Shadow: A Photographic History from Indigenous America, gathers more than 250 images by Indigenous photographers from the 1800s to today.
The project grew out of a much earlier effort. Photographer Brian Adams (Iñupiaq) and author Sarah Stacke first teamed up for the 400 Years Project, created around the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s arrival.
That project built a digital library of Indigenous photographers across generations. When a publisher came across their research, the idea for a book took shape.
“The big shift from the 400 Years Project to this book was adding writing that connects each photo to the person who made it,” Stacke told Native News Online. “That relationship, between image and maker, is really the heart of the project.”
The book includes studio portraits from the early 1900s, family snapshots, trapping scenes in Alaska, and contemporary fine-art photography. The publisher wanted a balance that leaned historic, but the team quickly learned that “historic” didn’t mean scarce.
“We worried we wouldn’t find enough early Indigenous photographers,” Stacke said. “But we found so many that choosing was the hard part.”
Their final selection focused on geography, genre, and generation, trying to cover as many regions and types of photography as possible.
Stacke also uncovered stories like that of John Meek Jr., a Native Hawaiian who ran a photography studio in 1867. His glass plates were auctioned off and never found, but their existence suggests an even deeper history waiting in archives, basements, and family closets.
Adams handled most of the contemporary photography selections, drawing on years of community-building through Indigenous Photograph, the database he helped create. Growing up in Alaska, he didn’t have Indigenous photographers to look toward.
“I loved photography, but I didn’t see anyone like me doing it,” Adams said. “I want younger Native photographers to have something I didn’t, to see that this work has always been happening.”
Stacke spent years contacting descendants, relatives, and archives to make sure each photograph was accurately contextualized.
“There were a lot of emails,” Stacke said. “But representation has to be done carefully.”
The team is already sharing the project through talks and upcoming exhibitions, including a talk at the Anchorage Museum, a 2026 exhibition with Obscura Gallery in Santa Fe, and an event in New York next spring. They’re open to more opportunities as the book reaches more readers.
“It’s a celebration of the photographers who were here before us and the ones working today,” Adams said. “We’ve always been here.”
