Pine_Ridge_Edit_009.jpg
Pine_Ridge_Edit_009.jpgOglala tribal rangers shot a buffalo that will be processed and distributed to tribal members for ceremonial and social events across the Pine Ridge Reservation. The Lakota tribes of the Great Plains traditionally depended on the buffalo for food, clothing, shelter, and spiritual guidance. The US government supported the extermination of the buffalo from the American West.
• What do you see in this photograph?
• Why is the image titled “Buffalo Kill”?
• What is missing from this photograph that you might expect to see?
• What larger story of the Oglala Lakota might photographer Danny Wilcox Frazier be trying to tell by juxtaposing the dead buffalo and the modern car?
• What choices did the photographer make to shape your interpretation of this image? How did he use light and shadow? What other choices seem important?
