The Pamela Peters Standing Rock Protest photographic collection is now available for public access. The finding aid for the collection can be found on ArchivesSpace under Pamela Peters Standing Rock Protest photographs. 

A Diné multimedia artist, Peters specializes in filmmaking, photography, and multimedia documentaries. She uses her Diné first clan, Tátchii’nii clan (Red Running into the Water) to identify her photography work. The Pamela Peters Standing Rock Protest photographic collection features her documentary photography of the 2016 protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a 1,172-mile-long underground oil pipeline stretching across the northern United States. Approved construction resulted in the DAPL running through the Standing Rock Reservation of the Great Sioux Nation (Očhéthi Šakówiŋ), a Native American reservation located across the North and South Dakota borders. 

In response to the DAPL project’s threats to local water supplies and sacred sites, water protectors from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe were joined in protest by other Native and non-Native allies. SCUA patrons can now review 27 of Peters’ original photographic prints which illustrate grassroots opposition and signs of dissent placed on Standing Rock Reservation land impacted by DAPL construction. 

When defining her work, Peters’ describes it as “Indigenous Realism,” using a socially conscious approach to depict the diverse lives of contemporary Native Americans/American Indians. Her aim is to disrupt clichéd portrayals and redefine views of American Indian life and tribal identity in the mainstream media (Peters, 2016). In this collection, Peters’ photographs show water protectors defending the Sioux Nation’s water rights and Indigenous sovereignty through protest (Peters, 2019). This work is now available for use in the Special Collections & University Archives reading room.

Citations

Peters, Pamela. “Real NDNZ ‘Retake’ Hollywood.” Pamela J. Peters (blog), July 25, 2016. Retrieved from: https://pamelajpeters.com/2016/07/25/real-ndnz-re-take-hollywood/

Peters, Pamela. “Beyond Standing Rock.” Pamela J. Peters (blog), February 21, 2019. Retrieved from: https://pamelajpeters.com/2019/02/21/beyond-standing-rock/