Talking with The People, Talking with the Clay
Talking with The People, Talking with the Clay
Event Location
An illustrated presentation by photographer and author Stephen Trimble
6:30-7:30 p.m. Arizona time, via Zoom
Stephen Trimble spent a decade photographing and interviewing Southwest Native people. He began in 1984, creating images for the Heard Museum in Phoenix. His work culminated with two significant books, Talking with the Clay: The Art of Pueblo Pottery and The People: Indians of the American Southwest.
In this talk, he will tell stories from his fieldwork, highlight his favorite photos, and introduce us to their now-historic content and context.
Trimble’s photos powerfully reveal the care and warmth that suffuses his work with respect for the People, their lives, and their art. Talking with the Clay remains the book that gallery owners recommend when they send a new enthusiast home with a piece of Pueblo pottery. Reviewers said of The People: "Trimble redefines American ethnography… His photographs...are destined to become classics in the history of the Indians of our time." Rain Parrish (Diné) said of Trimble’s photographs: they become “a language of the heart.”
In 2022, Trimble found a permanent home for these photographs when he donated all of his work to the Arizona State Museum—more than 18,000 images.