Still Here: Portraits of the Chemakum
The Chemakum people, who lived in the Chimacum Creek watershed, have been widely considered extinct and written out of history. In fact, there are many Chemakum descendants and they hold a family gathering each summer. In 2021, LEO was invited to photograph the families. Brian Goodman made these portraits with assistance of LEO members Tim Lawson, Robert Tognoli, and Kerry Tremain.
The exhibition opened on April 14, 2022 at Chimacum High School and has subsequently been shown at Finn River Cidery and the Unitarian-Universalist hall in Port Townsend. An exhibit of the photographs has been on view from July through September 2024 at the Commons at Fort Worden State Park. A book of the photographs with a text by Chemakum elder Rosalee Walz accompanies the exhibit.
Follow news of the Chemakum at chemakum.org
This exhibition and book have been supported by the Chimacum History Group of the Native Connections Action Group at the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and by Northwind Art. We are grateful to the donors who enable us to print the photographs and book, including Barbara Jo Blair, Chimacum Center, Chimacum Corner Farmstand, David and Margaret Engle, Jean Erreca, the Lucas Hagan Memorial Fund, Holly Hughes and John Pierce, Ruth Kodish-Eskind, Maria Mendez, Connie Ross, Kate Storey, Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, and Rosalee Walz.