EMILY GÓMEZ, an assistant professor of art and photography at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, toured the South photographing the sites of former Native American villages, defensive fortifications and burial mounds. Here are some of her images of the Georgia locations.

Artist’s Statement
My large format photographic work documents Southeastern and Midwestern landscapes and what is missing from them—an American Indian presence.  Indian Mounds and former town sites fascinate me visually and in terms of what they symbolize. Simply put, they represent the achievements of people who no longer exist or whose populations have been decimated—people our predecessors killed or forced west to live on reservations.

My work is driven by my search to uncover the past—to find evidence of what was here before us and to educate others and myself about the history of our continent that we rarely learn. I feel that by unearthing the facts of our past and by admitting that what we did was wrong, we can begin to change the way we treat one another, both at home and abroad.

Bio
Emily J. Gómez is originally from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.  She received her B.A. in Fine Arts/Photography from Loyola University Chicago in 1998 and her M.F.A. with Distinction from the University of Georgia in 2006. She is an adopted member of the Santee Indian Nation of South Carolina and an Assistant Professor of Art at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia. Photo by Ernesto Gómez.

Links

• See more of Emily Gómez’s photography, including photographs of other Native American sites in the South.
• Visit Etowah Mounds Historic Site
• Visit the mysterious defensive wall at Fort Mountain State Park
• Visit Ocmulgee National Monument
• Learn more about Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville
• Join the Georgia Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association
• Explore the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail

By David Leonardis

Chicago gallery owner and art entrepreneur David Leonardis discovered the work of nationally acclaimed Georgia folk artist Howard Finster in 1989. It was the beginning of an involvement with Finster’s art and eventually with Howard himself that has led to Leonardis becoming the country’s largest dealer of Finster’s work and the creation of the Howard Finster Vision House in Summerville in Northwest Georgia. For Vision House photos and an interview with Leonardis, see the MySpace and YouTube links at the bottom of the page.

Like a lot of people that graduated from high school in 1985, I was a Talking Heads fan. In my dorm room I had a Talking Heads Poster as well as posters from a few other bands. After college, I rolled up my Talking Heads poster and put it in a closet. Years later after I was working with and publishing Howard Finster’s prints, I pulled out the poster and had Howard sign it and then I had it framed in the wood-burned molding that he had personally designed.

I first saw the Rev. Howard Finster’s paintings in a Chicago art gallery in 1989. I was drawn to them. There was a whole wall of Howard Finster originals of different sizes and shapes. The one that spoke to me was a cutout of a Camel, “The Desert Taxi.” I couldn’t afford it, so I got a job at the gallery so I could get a discount. “Desert Taxi” was $500 even then. I got my 50% off and I owed $250. I could work for other art from the gallery but I had to pay cash money for the Finsters. (more…)