In 1910, at the age of 10, Sarah Grandmother’s Knife was photographed on the Crow Reservation. At the time, Sarah’s photograph was labelled “Woman in Costume”, but there is much more to Sarah’s story than just being a girl in a costume* (this was not a costume, these were her clothes).

Sarah was a Crow/Absaalooke girl who grew up and lived her entire life on the Crow Reservation in Eastern Montana. Due to her age, Sarah was one of the first generations of Crow children who would grow up on the Reservation instead of moving throughout the traditional homelands.

Sarah lived through a time of great transition and turmoil. The U.S. Government enacted a policy of removal, genocide, and forced assimilation in order to displace and remove Indigenous people from their land (and then open it up for settlement). Due to these policies, Sarah would be one of the first generations of Crow Children to attend boarding schools, be restricted from leaving the Reservation, and have her engagement in traditional Native American practices and ways of life deemed illegal. Despite living through these extraordinary experiences Sarah goes on to live to her late 50’s, primarily in Lodge Grass, Montana. Records state that she had 2 husbands and 8 children and relatives state she was a wonderful kaala (grandmother) who showed great kindness to those around her.

I chose to paint Sarah because despite the circumstances, Sarah poses for her picture with joy. She is joyfully sticking her tongue out for a portrait in a time period where most photographers (especially those photographing Native Americans) required their subjects to be serious, stoic, and quiet. Her joyful expression, while most likely a byproduct of being a 10 year old girl being asked to stand still in the hot summer sun, serves as an act of resilience in the face colonization and oppression.

“Sarah Grandmother’s Knife” will be at The Russell this March in the First Strike Friday Event.

The catalogue for the C.M Russell Auction can be found by clicking here.

* The label of “costume” is offensive. The dress Sarah wears is not a costume and is a traditional dress that if usually referred to as an elk tooth dress. Traditionally elk tooth dresses were made of wool and were adorned with the incisors of elk that had been hunted. In Crow society elk teeth dresses symbolized great care for the wearer and family wealth via success in hunting.