BIGFORK — Students from Two Eagle River School are bringing rez life to the city, as their work is being displayed at the new Bigfork Library.
"It feels like I guess anything's possible. Like you have to be stuck on the reservation like if my work can go out there, so can I," says Emma Spottedwolf, a sophmore at Two Eagle River School.
Spottedwolf’s portraits were recently displayed at Photoville in New York City. Photoville is an outdoor art exhibition which brings storytellers from around the world to show their work, including the Two Eagle River students. And their story, life on the Rez.
Spottedwolf grew up on the reservations and says it is a very different,
"I feel like life on the reservation, no one would really understand like the way you grow up culture and just the way people talk to each other. And I feel like life on the rez if you come and you don't know the rez, like you're not gonna, I guess you will survive but you won't. It's like a whole different world," she says.
And other students like Zeirin Ridgley, wants their pictures to be an experience.
"I try to think about the details, what I would want my family members to see. You know, I want people to know what I think what I feel whenever I take my pictures," they said.
Over the years, the photography program at Two Eagle has opened doors for many students, for some it is their first time picking up a camera.
"Whenever I first started the class, I didn't even know like I didn't know nothing about a camera, but now I'm like, I don't know, I'm just so proud of myself," Ridgley said.
Katie Medicine Bull a former Two Eagle Student traveled to New York to represent her fellow classmates.
"It was amazing. Just to see our pictures out there in the world and to see all these other people viewing them. It was kind of hard though being there without the rest of the students," Medicine Bull said.
Medicine Bull says photography has changed her life, "I still really want to just represent our culture and get it out there. All of this has just brought me closer to helping out and showing that we're still here as people."
The REzMaDe photo exhibition will be displayed until November.
