By Maricia Battle
Curator, Prints and Photographs Division,
Library of Congress

Apache Stream © 2002 Gary Auerbach

While it is difficult to change careers in mid-path, we are appreciative because it brought Gary Auerbach to photography, an art form he both treasures and for which has true passion. Before becoming a photographer, Auerbach was a chiropractic doctor. As a result of a hand injury in 1989, Auerbach put aside his chiropractic practice, and turned his attention full time to what had before been an earnest hobby.

His work with cameras in his practice gave him a natural familiarity with both large format cameras and film characteristics, and his compassion for the human subject, made portraiture a natural progression. He uses an 8x10 and an 11x14 view cameras, not your average large format equipment. But what further distinguishes him from other photographers is his technique of contact printing the image with platinum metal salts, which increases their tactile and textural luster while creating an important archival photographic record.

Eddie in His Cornfield © 2002 Gary Auerbach

American Indians, an integral part of American history, have been represented in the works of many photographers since the dawn of photography. James E. McClees, with Julian Vannerson and Samuel Cohner, produced some of the earliest Native American images in studios in Washington, DC in the late 1850s, later joined by the works of Charles Milton Bell. Most of this early work consisted of staged images of American Indian dignitaries during their visits to the Capitol. In the 1890s, John Hillers and John Grabill produced some of the first survey images of American Indians in their own environment. It was not until the turn of the century that the most recognized and celebrated of all the photographers, Edward S. Curtis, begin his thirty-year project of photographing Native Americans in natural settings.

Our curiosity about others and ourselves has always been an underlying issue in most documentary photography. In light of recent events, that need to know has resurfaced with a vengeance. Unlike earlier anthropological studies, Curtis seemed able to rise above the physical examination of the American Indian culture to get inside the soul of the people. While not an insider, his camera focused on the individuality and the essential humanity of his Native America subjects.

Navajo Riders © 2002 Gary Auerbach

The same can be said of Gary Auerbach's images. He captures the dignity and strength of the Native American culture. He allows the subject to get comfortable, to know the lens and the eye of the camera in a way that is clearly non-threatening. It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and you know from looking at these images, that the individuals photographed are at ease with both the photographer and the camera. This is not an easy undertaking, given the private nature of the Native Americans. The resulting images are photographs that possess the ancestral qualities Curtis discovered in his subjects - the heart of the people.

With Auerbach's sensitivity to the Native American culture, permanence is clearly a defining issue. Gary has explored various printing methods, and in the tradition of Curtis, he uses the precious metals, platinum and palladium, to contact print each image. Each of the photographs in this collection is hand-coated with these metals etched into archival watercolor papers, ensuring the permanence of the print for hundreds of years. A by-product of this method is that the photographs have an ethereal quality, with unmatched dimension and depth.

Only time will tell if Auerbach will emulate Curtis' effort to the degree of producing a thirty-year masterwork of American Indians. I do know he will continue to develop this body of work because it is his passion. And with passion, and expertise, comes what we call, a work of art.