Artist Blog

Every week an artist whose single image was published by Der Greif is given a platform in which to blog about contemporary photography.

Quapaw Most of these images were captured in close geographical proximity to Northeastern Oklahoma, but some were taken in Louisville, Kentucky. Pictured are my blood relatives, their friends and relations, as well as strangers and participants of the annual Quapaw PowWow outside of Miami, OK. My family has visited this powwow most every summer since I was a child, though a little less now that we have been busy all over the place. My Great-grandfather was a respected elder around the Quapaw community and one of the founding members of the powwow. My grandmother was the undefeated Princess of the dance many years in a row as a teenager. My father camped out and played football there while growing up in Tulsa, OK, and both my younger sister and I were given our Shawnee names on the grounds. A few years ago, my family flew in to Tulsa to attend my Grandmother’s 80th birthday. I met old acquaintances from the hospital where she worked as a nurse, and some other close friends she had known since childhood. A lot of my relatives showed up as well; grand-uncles and aunts, some second-cousins and their kids. All of these many people, connected to me in one way or another, formed a familial web of human relationship and personal history that extended farther and deeper through time than I could even comprehend. In some way, I’m finding myself in these images of my family. When I take photographs, I am searching for clues of who I am, where I come from, and possibly of what I may become. Mekko Harjo (b. Los Angeles, CA) studied photography at Bard College and now lives and works as a professional photographer in New York City. His work has recently been shown at 321 Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Side Effects Gallery (Brooklyn, NY) and featured online by New York Magazine and Autre Magazine. www.mekkoharjo.com