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Jonas Banta

Jonas Banta is a photographer, a friend, and a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara. He was born and raised in Degheyay’ Kaq, also known as Anchorage, Alaska, and holds a B.A. in Indigenous Environments and a minor in Studio Art from Pitzer College. Jonas is often found listening to birds, or by the water.

As a photographer, I watch for moments when the distance between myself and the world around me collapses; when a fresh-lain fence cuts through a willow thicket, or when berries dry in my sunlit kitchen. The reflections of these moments are an offering I am hoping to share on restoration, place, self, and wholeness. I have gathered them together here with the help and care of many friends and relatives, and extend them so that others may consider how else they might look out at the world around them, and pull themselves closer toward it.