Early Book Review: Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur

Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur is currently scheduled for release on April 25 2023. In 2012, Matika Wilbur sold everything in her Seattle apartment and set out on a Kickstarter-funded pursuit to visit, engage, and photograph people from what were then the 562 federally recognized Native American Tribal Nations. Over the next decade, she traveled six hundred thousand miles across fifty states—from Seminole country (now known as the Everglades) to Inuit territory (now known as the Bering Sea)—to meet, interview, and photograph hundreds of Indigenous people. The body of work Wilbur created serves to counteract the one-dimensional and archaic stereotypes of Native people in mainstream media and offers justice to the richness, diversity, and lived experiences of Indian Country. The culmination of this decade-long art and storytelling endeavor, Project 562 is a peerless, sweeping, and moving love letter to Indigenous Americans, containing hundreds of stunning portraits and compelling personal narratives of contemporary Native people—all photographed in clothing, poses, and locations of their choosing. Their narratives touch on personal and cultural identity as well as issues of media representation, sovereignty, faith, family, the protection of sacred sites, subsistence living, traditional knowledge-keeping, land stewardship, language preservation, advocacy, education, the arts, and more.

Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America is a stunning and important book. The photography is absolutely wonderful, and I could page through this book for hours to appreciate each image. More important, the text and purpose of this book is incredibly significant and I found the book to be highly engaging, informational, and meaningful on multiple levels. I think letting each of the interviewed individuals choose how that wanted to be photographed, and how their words were shared untouched went a long way in sharing their real and authentic voices, experiences, and perspectives with readers. Reading this book was as close to meeting such a variety of individuals and communities from across the country as I am likely to ever have a chance to personally. I feel like I learned a great deal, and will continue to learn more as I explore more ownvoices works by indigenous individuals. I thought I had a much better grasp and understanding on how colonialism and bigotry had shaped this country and all of its people, but I feel like I have a much better understanding of how little I actually knew after reading this book. This book has inspired be to continue my learning and understanding, and I hope it will have the effect on a wide variety of readers.