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