Statue of mysterious woman with 'Star Wars'-like headdress found in Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

3. As soon as I saw the hairstyle I remembered photos I've seen over the years of Hopi women's hair!

There's an American man who was assigned a prodigeous task in trying to get accurate portraits in Native people in the United States while there was still a chance to see their native dress, environments, etc. around the end of the 1800's. I discovered his portraits around 1972, in a local library, and was astonished. At that time, his books couldn't be just picked up in book stores, they had to be special ordered. Have been unable to ever forget these people for a moment since then. There are photos you can locate on line, and there is a huge trove in the Library of Congress.

One thing I wanted to mention which I discovered by studying my own childhood photos: people in pictures are probably going to look unhappy if there is a painful association at the moment with the person taking the picture. I mention that, because once you start looking at the Curtis photos, you might note right away a lot of the people look very unhappy. It's important to remember what had happened to Native people by the end of the 1800's, many of them having lost parents, grandparents, possibly siblings, spouses, children, etc. to the European invaders and the ensuing genocide.

I grabbed some quick images from google images in a search for "Edward Sheriff Curtis Hopi woman squashblossom hair"
This hairstyle is so dramatic, so intense, so unique you never forget seeing it. "Squashblossom."

Once you start studying his photos you might want to see everyone you can find! I have bought his books and given them to people, so concerned that others might get the chance to think about the people who were degraded, defiled, despised, murdered, tortured, and forced to lose everything in their lives in deference to the greed of the people who "built" this great society.

Wikipedia on the photographer:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_S._Curtis

Magazine article:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/edward-curtis-epic-project-to-photograph-native-americans-162523282/

Excellent collection of prints you may find fascinating, after you get the hang of natigation. It took me a little while before I realized how many photographs are in this link:

https://www.edwardscurtis.com/


I may be crazy but do you see any resemblance between the elaborate hairstyle on the statue discovered in Mexico, and the hairstyle worn around the 1800's by Hopi females?



















Edward Sheriff Curtis

Hopi women on a reservation, watching a dance in 1906.