ARTISTS DIALOGUE: ILKA HARTMANN
Artists Dialogue October/November 1993
..."I think I'm mostly drawn to the human face, although I've done a lot of other photography. I'm drawn to the beauty of the human face- the character, the expressions, the humanity. My main work is the people I know well and love- the people of B. whom I have seen grow up, mature and age, and Native Americans- the largest part of my work.
I came here during the Civil Rights Movement. I think that because I am from Germany, with World War II and the Holocaust in its past, my eyes were opened to the suffering of other human beings. I felt Native Americans needed the most support of the people I encountered at that time. What life was like and is like for the first Americans is not very well known here or abroad. As American Indians say themselves, "We are at the bottom of the totem pole."
Originally, I wanted to do whatever I could with my photographs and my writing to aid Native Americans. Today, I have become deeply drawn to Native American culture. On reservations and in cities I have friends. They are in my heart.
A few years ago I went on a photography trip for the Smithsonian Institution to photograph tribes and events they were missing for their scholarly "Handbook on the North American Indian" series. They asked me to attend the Return of the Sacred Staff of the Omaha. It had been in a museum at Harvard for 100 years. I was very surprised to find out that Dennis Hastings, one of my friends from [about the time] of the Occupation of Alcatraz, was instrumental in accomplishing the return. He is now the Tribal Historian.
Since then I've been working with him and an anthropologist on a
book which recounts Omaha history and former culture..."
That's the kind of work I really like- work that has a larger purpose in addition to the recognition of human beings and their dignity. Wanting to change a situation for the better- what I see that can be improved in the world- is very strong. I like to contribute what I can. ...However, I don't think that all art should have a social purpose or be political. It's important to have human spirit and talent come out as well. Even work that is whimsical is important- to express joy and playfulness. I think people need to freely do what they do best.
I work on my own. I think it's important to go your own way, regardless of what's fashionable, and not to be intimidated by what is currently being done. Then, one is most authentic and most happy with one's work and with one's self. Coming from that perspective, it's really wonderful to meet other photographers and other artists because it's equal , and not a competition.
When you have security within yourself, seeing other photographers and their work is a great joy. You learn something, you recognize the difference, and you incorporate it into your own work. Your eye gets opened to another person's eye. It's just amazing how the human mind and spirit can come up with so many different points of view.
As a mother, the hardest thing is how to make a living and the constant interruption of focus. I just found over 100 rolls of undeveloped film I never knew I had. I keep finding more and more because during the years my son was growing up I continued to shoot, but eventually no longer developed all my own film. When I found those rolls of film I felt that somehow I had failed. That I could have done more, on books, exhibits, projects.
Now my son is 18, and this period is coming to a close. However, for me, the happiness I felt in the good moments while raising my son is equal to the elation I feel when I photograph my favorite topic or make exhibit prints in the darkroom.
I just had a friend, an East German writer, visit me. He told me about one of his friends, a woman and a mother, who was very critical of her achievements in her life; she hadn't written a book yet and she had worked for a living most of her life. He doesn't have any children and he said to her,"You have to be easy on yourself, when others did books, you raised two children." The way he said it, as a man with no children, you could really see his admiration for her and her life's work up to then- her children."