Portraits of Geronimo: Performative Images of Resistance
by
Oscar Giner, D.F.A.
Arizona State University
The paper will analyze the extant photographic portraits of the Apache Medicine Man and war leader Geronimo as images of performative resistance–icons in which the subject’s performance in front of the camera becomes a symbolic and meaningful event in the general context of the Apache wars of the late 19th century, and of the subsequent political imprisonment of Chiricahua Apache warriors.
From the first known photograph of Geronimo brandishing a rifle (perhaps the most famous portrait of a Native American), to his last photograph as a ghostly seer in black western garb, the extant photographs of Geronimo trace a visual movement from rebel warrior, to political prisoner, to citizen of the various reservations he lived in, to famous media star whose photographs commanded substantial prices in national forums.
The writer notes a tension in the photographs between the attempts of photographers to represent Geronimo according to prevailing political definitions of the Apache leader (savage warrior, safely guarded prisoner, assimilating Indian leader), and Geronimo’s own attempts to manipulate his photographic images for his own purposes (both political and financial), through expert performances in front of the camera. As a brilliant performer who traced his expertise to his office as Apache medicine man, Geronimo became a wise media manipulator, and used his photographic images as statements of rebellion and as income producing propositions; used them for political and diplomatic advantage in negotiations with the U.S. government, and for raising the consciousness of the American public regarding the captive plight of Chiricahua Apaches.
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