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ARTIST INFORMATION

NAME: Della Nohl  
NATION: Anishinaabe  
ADDRESS    
TELEPHONE:    
EMAIL: boozhoo@charter.net  
WEBSITE:    
DISCIPLINE: Photographer  
     
     

ARTIST BIO

Della Nohl has been affiliated with the National Press Photographers Association, The Native American Journalists Association, and the Native Indian/Inuit Photographers Association. Her photographs have appeared in publications including: Indian Artist magazine, The Syracuse New Times, The Arizona Republic, Broadcasting & Cable, The American Poetry Review, and "A Forever Story: The People and Community of the Fond du Lac Reservation" by Thomas D. Peacock. She is credited as a motion picture still photographer in two feature length films: The Reawakening (directed by Diane Fraher in 2003; filmed on location in Central New York on the Onondaga Nation) and Disorders of the Instincts and Emotions (currently in post-production).

In 1995 Della was awarded NIIPA's "Excellence As A New Photographer" for her images of a Ku Klux Klan protest. A 1997 trip to Oaxaca, Mexico for The Day of The Dead observances resulted in a series of existing light B&W images exhibited at several galleries including: the Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene, Ore., Gallery Lombardi in Austin, Texas, and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.

Twenty-eight prints from the Oaxaca Day of Dead series were exhibited in October 2006 at the Indianapolis Art Center during their annual Day of the Dead celebration. The series then moved to Nicole Fiacco's Modo Gallery in Hudson, NY in the spring of 2007.

Artists in Cellophone supplied their Art-O-Mat machines with her Dear JoEllen, Letters from Camp project containing hand tinted photographs, drawings, and text. The Letters have been purchased by the Eiteljorg Museum, Christian Keesee Collection, Crocker Art Museum, MOCO Cleveland, and Miami's Frost Art Museum, to name a few.

Eager to encourage the next generation of photographers, Della has mentored participants in the NAACP Act-up arts program, a YMCA Arts Camp, and was an advisor to the Onondaga Historical Society's Peace Camp - a children's program designed to explore peaceful resolution through artistic expression. She also contributed to artist workshops sponsored by the Cultural Resources Council of Onondaga County in New York, and taught both curriculum and continuing education courses as a photography instructor at Cazenovia College.

A former resident of New York, Della currently resides in Wisconsin where she concentrates on exhibiting fine art photography and continues to work on long term projects.

Comments on the photographs:

Anishinaabe WWII Veteran (1992) is a color reversal transparency shot on assignment for NIIPA's ambitious and uncompleted Day In The Life of Native America book project. I followed a northern Minnesota V.F.W. color guard as they traveled to ten small rural cemeteries to honor the fallen on Memorial Day. The World War II veteran is Rupert Smith (deceased), an Anishinaabe from the Red Cliff Band of Superior Chippewa.

AP Takes 5 Before His Death Scene (2003) is a silver gelatin B&W photographic print of actor Apesanahkwat during the filming of The Reawakening. Apesanahkwat is serenely waiting for the camera to roll and it's one of my personal favorites.

Inini/Ikwe (2002) is a silver gelatin B&W photographic print weave of two portraits.
Horizontal strips from each face are exchanged to create the illusion of kinship. The
facial features of the Inini (man) are softened with borrowed strips from the Ikwe
(woman) and the facial features from Inini mature that of Dcwe. The two appear related but differ in ages and Nations. The subjects are recording artist Bill Miller (Stockbridge-Munsee) and hoop dancer Thirza Defoe (Oneida-Ojibwe). Each portrait was taken ontwo separate occasions.

Maji-Manidoo (Devil) (2002) is a silver gelatin B&W photographic print taken in Oaxaca, Mexico during the Day of The Dead Celebration on October 31,1997. It is an existing light image shot at dusk in the Zocolo where a large crowd gathered to socialize and exhibit their costumes.

NPPA, NAJA, NIIPA