William Wilson has set out to photograph the Navajo people in relationship to the land. He does this by recognizing the misuse of photography as a form of classification, a tool to reinforce racial superiority and position indigenous people as primitive. Like Anna Tsouhlarakis, Wilson includes the figures to represent his people, and himself. In the Auto Immune Response series, a luminal figure or pair of figures wearing gas masks appear in different dramatic natural places; in the area of the Grand Canyon and in upstate New York near the Fingerlakes. This post-apocalyptic man survey’s what appears to be a pristine and expansive landscape and wonders what has gone wrong. In Auto Immune Response #11, a hogan structure is positioned as a bridge between one side the river and the other. The hogan travels through the series and finally finds a home in a more stable location.

As with other artists in the exhibition, Wilson’s teaching and art activism are an important part of his practice. He is Co-Director of the Barrio Anita Community Mural Project in Tucson, AZ; and his work with the Native American Youth Outreach Project has been exhibited several times at the Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO. He is a recipient of the Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art and received a New Works Photography Award from En Foco. His work has been at many places including Longwood Art Gallery, Bronx, NY, and the Tucson Museum of Art. The Auto-Immune Response series was shown as a solo exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY and the Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ. He earned his MFA in photography with a concentration in the history of photography at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, and his BA from Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH.

More information can be found at http://eportfolio.cfa.arizona.edu/cover.php?portid=713