Old Photos Meet New Poetry

By Emma Saville

LAWRENCE, KS – Good Morning Indian Country Reporter Mily Favella caught up with poet Allen Stephenson (Comanche and Wichita Nations), covering his exhibit called “Through a Lens: An Ekphrastic Exploration Through the Works of L.M. Wood,” currently on display at the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum in Lawrence, Kansas. 

Between 1899 and 1900, LM Wood photographed the day-to-day lives of the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache in what is now Oklahoma. Stephenson uses ekphrastic poetry, which is a type of poetry that represents another work of art through it, to tribute those shown in Wood’s work.  

Stephenson said, “The whole premise of this exhibit is this flux of what’s old and what’s new. If I could take something that’s new and make it positive, even if what in the past wasn’t positive, there’s a lot of stuff in our past, in the American past, that we have to deal and reconcile. I think this project helped me do that personally, but also on a broader, universally approachable level for everyone else.”

Stephenson hopes that this exhibit will encourage people to embrace their individuality and use their voices, even if it feels like the whole world is against them. 

This exhibit will be on display until May 30, 2025.

For more information, visit the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum’s website.