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(L) Black Bear Jr. (Arapahoe,) ca 1900. Photographer F. A. Rinehart, (R) An Indian from India, War Paint, 2001
ReVision(ing ) History Through a Local Artist’s Lens Annu Palakunnathu Matthew’s ReVision rewrites historical narratives with photography and mixed media Images can tell stories just as profoundly as words, and Annu Palakunnathu Matthew’s ReVision, a sweeping exhibition of two decades’ worth of the photographer and mixed media artist’s work currently on view at the Newport Art Museum, shares an expansive narrative of stories left untold. “We are at a crossroads in terms of re-looking at narratives we take as truth,” she says. “There are other people’s stories that need to be told and we haven’t allowed these voices to speak.” Born in the United Kingdom, Matthew’s family returned to India when she was 13. “It’s the story of my life: an insider and an outsider,” she continues. “I have a combination of accents. People don’t know where I am from.” It’s this perspective that informs much of her work. But nowhere is it more evident than in her photo collection called “Memories of India.” A collection of street photography (“the only ones I’ve done,” she notes), Matthew captures India and its people as seen through this liminal space that she occupies. “[The images] reflect an understanding of the culture, but you rarely see their faces.” Original photo courtesy Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library, Denver, CO. The Bay • December 2021
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