Laurita Dianita

Last Fall, I decided to undertake a series of photographic portraits and narratives of women in Alaska. I wrote about the idea in the early life of this blog: http://www.lauritadianita.info/?p=16. I am finally beginning.

I am interested in sharing the stories of the women that make Alaska the unique place that it is. I am interested in showing the different forms that women’s strength can take: from fixing snowmachines and putting up firewood and hunting to bringing your family across the ocean as a refugee and resettling in this strange, cold land to fighting with wisdom and compassion for the well-being of your people who have lived here for many thousands of years.

For those who are not from here, such stories can provide a much-needed humanity to Alaska; they can provide a portrait of our state apart from the we-all-live-in-igloos misconceptions or Sarah Palin’s mama grizzlies.  For those from here, we all, I think, deserve to stop and celebrate the women who are our neighbors, coworkers, family members, forbearers, tribal leaders, legislators, and inspirations. In a state with mostly male legislators and the highest rates of sexual violence in the country, a state where the mayor of the largest city can veto equal rights for LBGT folks, we need to celebrate and promote the places where we are forward-thinking in terms of gender: we have some tough-as-nails women up here doing good things.

I am interested in telling the stories, through photographs and interviews, of what strong and compassionate women do and who they are. Most important to me, however, is the question of how they came to be. How does strength and passion develop? How does someone develop a sense of justice? Where did each woman find her inspirations and role models and which lessons and oppressions did she have to reject? This is important to explore because it gives us clues into how we can raise and educate children to be strong, just and compassionate leaders in the world. And in particular, it guides us in this process for raising our daughters.

Very soon I will have the first installment, featuring Tiffany Zulkosky. You can get a sneak peek of the photo on Flickr.

I got my first photos published! And in an independent, internationally-distributed feminist parenting magazine called Hip Mama, which is the kind of place I’d want to be published.

How did this come about? My rad fellow Mount Holyoke alumna, Amanda Englund is one of the magazine’s editors. She took a liking to my pictures, asked if she could use them in upcoming editions, and then she & the other editors picked some off of my Flickr account that they thought fit.

But, as Oscar pointed out, it’s not only the photos–it’s also because they see me as part of their tribe. I think he means that a photo has more relevance to a person or, in this case, a group of editors, when the person behind the camera shares some common hopes or values and wants to give their art to the same cause. And though I am not yet a feminist mother and Oscar is not yet a feminist father, we are hatching plans to become them. I guess this, indeed, makes me part of the feminist parenting tribe.

These is one of the pictures they used:

Last Thursday, Oscar and I were having dinner with Ben & MacKenzie Kerosky and the subject of reactionary politics and sexism in Alaska were brought up.  MacKenzie said that this was one of the hardest things about this otherwise wonderful state. I agreed, but remarked that Alaska is also home to so many incredibly tough women who mush and skin otters and chop ice for drinking water, or women who come here as refugees seeking asylum and who have to build their lives anew, women who should make us question traditional gender norms…and then, suddenly, I got an idea:

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to make a book of photos of the women of Alaska with short bios for each one? Someone should do that.”

Ben asked, “Well, how about you?”

“Yeah, amor,” Oscar added, “It’s your idea.”

And I protested that I’m not a photographer and that I don’t have anything other than an old manual Pentax K-1000 from 1980…but over the next few days it occurred to me that that’s okay; I can make do with what I have just like women here make do with what they have: a new country and language and confusing bus system, a cabin in the woods with no electricity or water, changing ice conditions for hunting and fishing. And anyway, I don’t have to publish a book. I can just talk with the women I meet and take photos and ask to write about them and do it here to share with you, little by little, in whatever time I find.

So that’s my plan. I want to begin with a brilliant Darfurian woman I interviewed and photographed recently for my work once I have a chance to get her consent. If you know women who embody this spirit of making do with what they have, with struggle and survival and adaptation and strength (that’s my criteria for now, anyway, but it might change), let me know.

[Update 11/18/09: I talked and gave a copy of the photo I took to Halima, the Darfurian woman. She agreed that I could interview her and post her photo on the blog, so I will do that in early December. I'm excited!]