Ampkwa Advocacy art exhibit on display in Salem

By Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff writer

Tribal member Amanda Freeman, who has made advocating for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People her passion, has a photography exhibit on display now at the Gretchen Schuette Gallery at Chemeketa Community College in Salem.

Ampkwa: munk łush nsayka shawash tilixam, Healing Our Indigenous Relatives, focuses on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People and features numerous Tribal members in the photos, along with models from Tribes in Alaska and Canada, Freeman said.

The exhibit will be available to view through Friday, Feb. 6. There will be a reception and artist talk open to the public at noon, Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Freeman said she hopes to bring more awareness to the issue. “Even a lot of Indigenous people aren’t aware, if they didn’t grow up on a reservation or have connections to their people,” Freeman said. “Also when we say Indigenous, we think Native women, but it’s Hispanic women also, or Aztec … it’s something that a lot of people, even if they are in that category, just don’t know about.”

Freeman said the photos may be emotional for some viewers.

“I like to give a trigger warning sometimes, because they can be emotional or hard to look at,” she said. “Everybody I’ve photographed has somebody in their family who has gone missing or murdered or experiences domestic violence, or addiction.”  

Freeman said she arrived her advocacy work “by showing up.”  This includes sitting with families, helping search and being present when cases slow down and urgency fades.

“Watching how quickly attention drops once a case is labeled inactive or exhausted changes how you understand disappearance,” she said. “It becomes clear that loss does not end when systems slow down. It continues for families who are left waiting.”

She continued, “Photography became the way I could respond to what I was witnessing without turning people into symbols, statistics or stories meant to be consumed. It allows Indigenous people to be seen as whole and present. The focus of this work is dignity, relationship and accountability. This exhibit exists because MMIP is ongoing. People are still missing. Families are still waiting. Early decisions still shape whether someone is ever brought home. Silence still gets mistaken for closure. This work is not meant to shock or explain. It is meant to stay with people.”

The Gretchen Schuette Gallery is located 400 Lancaster Drive NE. For more information, contact 503-399-2533.