From September 06, 2024 to November 03, 2024
Obscura Gallery presents Norman Mauskopf: Descendants, a photographic exhibition of
rare and vintage, black and white gelatin silver prints that were made by the
photographer for the publication by the same name, published by Twin Palms in 2010.
The prints in the exhibition include both published and unpublished images made for the
book, which focuses on the Hispanic peoples and cultures of Northern New Mexico.
Many of the prints were included in the application for the very first W. Eugene Smith
Fellowship, which Mauskopf was then awarded in 2002.
Northern New Mexico is a complex weave of pride and history. In this region of ancient traditions
and striking environmental and ethnic diversity, Norman Mauskopf spent a decade
photographing the Hispanic people and their culture. The photographs that emerged depict the
intersection of religion, injustice, community, and transcendence.
The book also includes the poetry of New Mexican poet Jimmy Santiago Baca.
A segment from the poem, Singing at the Gates, reads:
and newborns scream their arrivals,
and fathers with wrist chains and tattoos
cling to their little loves in parks,
and the circle widens and expands and ripples
toward every closed gate, with tribal drums beating,
gourds blowing and rattles rattling
we are here, we are here, we are here.
Born in 1952 in Santa Fe of Chicano and Apache descent, Jimmy Santiago Baca was 21 in 1973,
when he was convicted on drug charges and spent five years in prison. It was there that he
learned to read and began writing poetry and is now a prominent poet and screenwriter. Baca
is the winner of the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the International Hispanic
Heritage Award, and, for his memoir A Place to Stand, the prestigious International Award. Baca
has devoted his post-prison life to writing and teaching others who are overcoming hardship.
His themes include American Southwest barrios, addiction, injustice, education, community, love,
and cultural difference. He has conducted hundreds of writing workshops in prisons, community
centers, libraries, and universities throughout the country.
During a distinguished 35-year photography career, Norman Mauskopf has had four award-
winning books of his photographs published by Twin Palms/Twelvetrees Press, and he has been
the recipient of a W. Eugene Smith Fellowship. His most recent book, Descendants, published
in 2010, was a pictorial exploration of Latino culture in northern New Mexico—its ancient
traditions, striking landscapes and ethnic diversity. A Time Not Here, published in 1997, focuses
on African-American musical and spiritual traditions in Mississippi and was described as “a
focused documentary of astonishing beauty.” His second book, Dark Horses, published in 1988,
documents the world of thoroughbred horseracing and was described as “classic
photojournalism slyly refracted through prisms of drama, majesty and humor.” Norman’s first
book, Rodeo, published in 1985, looks into the lives of professional rodeo cowboys. About the
images in Rodeo, author Ben Maddow wrote, “They are not merely photographs but
observations deeply seen and deeply felt. . . . Norman has uncovered something profound and
instinctive.” Norman has also completed a rare documentary on the legal brothels of Mustang,
Nevada.
Norman Mauskopf’s photographs have been included in solo and group exhibitions,
including two shows at the International Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan,
France. He has been a photographic educator for more than 30 years, including teaching
at the Santa Fe Workshops, the Maine Photographic Workshops, and at Art Center
College of Design in Pasadena, California