Toba Tucker's expressive portraits honouring Pueblo artists were made over a two-and-a-half year sojourn in the Southwest. These photographs form a record for history and art at the end of the twentieth century and portray Tucker's interest in the individuals and families who pass their artistic traditions from one generation to the next. The portraits reflect the sense of belonging that she so evidently found among the people who welcomed her into their homes, and they attest to her abiding respect and deep appreciation for the native traditions that continue to carry the Pueblo spirit.

Toba Tucker's expressive portraits honouring Pueblo artists were made over a two-and-a-half year sojourn in the Southwest. These photographs form a record for history and art at the end of the twentieth century and portray Tucker's interest in the individuals and families who pass their artistic traditions from one generation to the next. The portraits reflect the sense of belonging that she so evidently found among the people who welcomed her into their homes, and they attest to her abiding respect and deep appreciation for the native traditions that continue to carry the Pueblo spirit.

Toba Pato Tucker, who has photographed the Navajo and Zuni Indians of the Southwest, the Shinnecock and Montauk Indians on eastern Long Island and the Pueblo people of New Mexico and Arizona, now creates a record of the Onondaga, the Native people who have inhabited the hills of central New York for fifteen thousand years.

Using a simple black backdrop and available daylight, her portraits show the timeless, contemplative images that reify the spirit that has maintained the Onondaga for centuries. Of her work Tucker has said, "Native Americans are an ancient people striving to retain their traditional way of life and integrity while confronting modern society and the dominant culture. I want to record them, for history and for art, at the end of the twentieth century."