Preserving Indigenous Heritage Through the Lens of Cara Romero
Reclaiming Representation: Cara Romero’s “Panûpünüwügai (Living Light)” and the Power of Indigenous Photography
At the intersection of art, identity, and cultural sovereignty stands Cara Romero, a Chemehuevi photographer renowned for her dynamic and thought-provoking visual storytelling. Her latest exhibition, Panûpünüwügai (Living Light), on view at Dartmouth College’s Hood Museum of Art, is a compelling chronicle of Indigenous resilience, self-definition, and the transformative potential of photography.
Romero’s work transcends traditional portraiture, challenging deeply embedded colonial narratives in art and culture. Featuring over 60 pieces spanning from 2013 to 2025, the exhibition includes monumental photographs, installations, and personal effects that elevate Native perspectives within a medium historically used to marginalize them. Each work is richly layered with elements of symbolism, community collaboration, and cultural pride — a poignant assertion of visual sovereignty in a field long dominated by non-Native voices.
Reimagining the “Doll”: Centering Indigenous Womanhood
Among the standout works in the exhibition is “Amedée” (2024), part of Romero’s First American Doll series. The image features Amedée Niamh Kauakohemālamalama Conley-Kapoi, a Native Hawaiian (Kānaka Maoli) student and award-winning hula practitioner. Rendered in a doll box-like frame adorned with kapa designs by Indigenous artist Lehuauakea, Conley-Kapoi appears in the traditional regalia of her cultural practice, surrounded by books and hula implements — tools of heritage, activism, and self-expression.
More than a static portrait, “Amedée” offers a radical reclamation of identity, sharply contrasting with the kitschy commercialization of the “hula girl” trope. Through meticulous styling and powerful presence, Conley-Kapoi reshapes the narrative, honoring historical figures like Princess Kaʻiulani and reinforcing hula as a sacred art form. Romero’s craft transforms the image into a portal of cultural pride and personal agency — what it means to be Indigenous on one’s own terms.
Past, Present, and the Power of Pose
Cara Romero’s practice is rooted in intentionality. Each photograph melds fashion, history, lighting, and gesture to create a tableau shaped by and for Indigenous agency. Whether through the poised grace of Conley-Kapoi, the confident glamour of young Native Californian women in “Cali Gold” (2024), or the mythic representations of her nephews in reimagined landscapes, Romero ensures her subjects are collaborators rather than objects.
“Cali Gold,” a photograph from the Native California series, exemplifies her layered approach. Set in a staged desert backdrop, two young Indigenous women — her daughter Crickett Tiger and Naomi Whitehorse — don contemporary party attire blended with elements of California Native regalia. Surrounded by baskets, tribal ID cards, and gold coins, they signal the weight of historical trauma brought on by the California Gold Rush, along with present-day debates on Native sovereignty through gaming economies. The inclusion of cultural tattoos, confident gazes, and traditional symbolism reinvents legacy narratives into expressions of survival and resistance.
Unpacking Colonial Constructs
Romero does not shy away from confronting the dark legacies of colonialism. In “Don’t Tell” (2021), Native actor Gary Farmer is cast as a Catholic priest, his hand covering the mouth of a Native woman, with the lit silhouette of a hanging figure echoing in the background. The image is an indictment of historical abuse by religious institutions, layered further by the complexities of casting a recognizable Native figure in the role of an oppressor. This choice destabilizes viewer assumptions and explores how trauma can be internalized, acted out, and implicated within Indigenous communities themselves.
By clashing erasure and remembrance in one potent frame, Romero weaponizes photography to challenge uncomfortable truths. Many of her works occupy this dual space — both as art and as testimony.
Generational Continuity and the Threads of Creation
The themes of intergenerational strength and matriarchal lineage course through Living Light. In an introductory gallery space, Romero honors Chemehuevi basket weaver Mary Snyder (1852–1951) beside unnamed historic basketry pieces, some from Romero’s own collection. This tangible tribute to her ancestors amplifies her visual language. Just as Snyder wove stories into natural materials, Romero weaves contemporary narratives into light and lens — each serving as a record of survival and flourishing artistry.
The exhibition asserts the unbroken line of creativity among Chemehuevi women, each generation anchoring and uplifting the next. Where Snyder braided with willow and devil’s claw, Romero composes with pixels and pigments; both bear witness to perseverance and ingenuity.
Art as Rematriation
At the heart of Romero’s work is a process of “rematriation”: the reclamation of power, culture, and land by Indigenous