Carmelita Little Turtle

Carmelita "Carm" Little Turtle is an Apache/Tarahumara photographer born in Santa Maria, California, on June 4, 1952. Her hand-painted, sepia-toned photographs explore gender roles, women's rights and the relationships between women and men. Little Turtle's constructed photographic tableaux cast her husband, her relatives, and herself as characters in a variety of Southwestern landscapes that serve as backdrops to the dynamics of interpersonal relationships.

"The iconography in my work, by that I mean the props and costumes, is a private symbolism rather than one imposed by the dominant culture. The symbolism and mythology that dominant society attaches to indigenous people is nothing more than a salve for a troubled collective conscience. I have no need for that kind of mythology and symbolism. I attempt to imply a timelessness in my work which stimulates feelings that represent past, present, and future."

Life

Little Turtle attended the Navajo Community College (now Diné College), graduating in 1978. She also attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she studied photography. Additionally, she studied photography at the College of the Redwoods, Eureka, California. She first began schooling to become a nurse before deciding to become an artist. She was also known known as a producer and photographer with Shenandoah Films in Arcata, California from 1980 to 1983.

Her first exhibition was in 1982 at the Hardwood Foundation in Taos, New Mexico. She has been a part of both individual and group exhibitions. Her first group exhibition was also in 1982. Titled Native Americans Now, it was located at the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center in the Larkfield-Wikiup, also known as Santa Rosa, California. Many of the exhibitions she participated in were based around or about the Native American theme.

Her work is seen in several collections. These include the Center for Creative Photography, Heard Museum, Southwest Museum, Southern Plains Indian Museum, and the Western Arts American Library. She was awarded the Western States Arts Federation Fellowship in 1993.

Lawrence Abbott interviewed her in his book, I Stand in the Center of the Good: Interviews with Contemporary Native American Artists (1994). Joan M. Jensen also wrote about Little Turtle for a chapter in Susan R. Ressler's Women Artists of the American West (2011) and in her dissertation at the University of New Mexico, "Native American Women Photographers As Storytellers" (2000).

Individual exhibitions

• 1982 – Harwood Foundation, Taos, New Mexico
• 1983 – Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California
• 1991 – Reflections in Time, American Indian Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, California
• 1992 – Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
• 2016 – Brandywine Workshop Collection, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona

Works

"Earthman Thinking about Dancing with Woman from Other Tribe"

"Earthman Thinking about Dancing with Woman from Other Tribe" is one of the best-known works from Little Turtle’s Earthman series. The black-and-white photograph is set in a desert landscape, with lighting that highlights the dry, hot environment. Like many of her other works, Little Turtle uses her own family members as models; in this photo, her husband plays the role of Earthman.In the image, Earthman is sitting with his back turned to a woman. He leans his head on his hand, resting his elbow on his knee, and appears bored or uninterested. The other half of the photo shows only the lower half of a woman dressed in leopard-print leggings and high heels, holding a red parasol.The photograph suggests a deeper message. Despite the woman’s striking appearance, Earthman seems distracted and disconnected. The title, Earthman Thinking about Dancing with Woman from Other Tribe, hints that he may be thinking about someone else. Through this image, Little Turtle explores themes of desire, distance, and emotional disconnect in relationships

“She Was Obsessed with the Role of a Beauty Queen”

“She Was Obsessed with the Role of a Beauty Queen” is one of her popular works, displayed at The Fort Apache Connection exhibit. This photograph was taken in the desert, with the sky appearing a reddish-brown color due to the technique used: vintage sepia-toned gelatin silver prints with oils. The colors in the photo emphasize details such as the clouds and sky, giving them a blurry, romantic, and mysterious effect. The focus of the photograph is on two car wrecks. The contrast in colors, one yellow and the other multicolored, draws attention to these objects. In the multicolored car, both a man and a woman are captured. The man is in the front seat, appearing to drive, while the woman is sitting on the trunk in the backseat.

References

• Abbott, Lawrence (1994). I Stand in the Center of the Good: Interviews with Contemporary Native American Artists. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0803210370.
• Hillstrom, Laurie Collier, and Kevin Hillstrom. "Carm, Little Turtle." Contemporary Women Artists. Detroit: St. James, 1999. 405–406.
• Jensen, Joan M. (2000). Native American Women Photographers As Storytellers. Las Cruces, NM: New Mexico State University. OCLC 5254630. Archived from the original on 2019-03-23. Retrieved 2019-03-23.
• Ressler, Susan R. (2011). Women Artists of the American West. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0786464388.
• "Little Turtle, Carmelita at Encyclopedia.com".
• Farris, Phoebe (2005). "Contemporary Native American Women Artists: Visual Expressions of Feminism, the Environment, and Identity" (PDF). Feminist Studies. 31 (1): 95–109. doi:10.2307/20459008. hdl:2027/spo.0499697.0031.105. JSTOR 20459008.
• Farris, Phoebe (1999). Women artists of color : a bio-critical sourcebook to 20th century artists in the Americas. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 32. ISBN 0-313-30374-6. OCLC 40193578.
• * Michael. "Revisiting the Indian Princess". Retrieved 2025-05-06.
• "Fort Apache Connection: Nuevaluz Magazine" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-05-06.