O'odham Tash

Photographers have been shooting O'odham Tash, "Indian Days," in Casa Grande for years: great leaping, gyrating blurs of color. I wanted instead simply to photograph the Native Americans in their ceremonial finery with a large format camera, much the way Matthew Brady might have done in the last century. When the opportunity finally arrives, I am off to Casa Grande not really knowing what to expect. O'odham Tash committee members prove gracious and helpful. But my hoped-for subjects, the Indians themselves, have no knowledge of what I intend to do, and I'm not sure what their response will be. My first task is to arrange for some kind of studio, for suddenly the western sky has turned blue-black with storm clouds, eliminating any chance of outdoor photography. Indian pickup trucks wearing war paint-the vermilion-colored soil of northern Arizona and New Mexico-begin to fill the parking lot. But I still have no studio shelter to escape the rain that I know will fall soon. I'm almost ready to return home to Tucson emptycamera'd when I meet Bill Wahnee, a Kiowa-Comanche dancer. Sympathetic to my problem, he offers the use of part of his group's changing area. And I am in business. For a backdrop, I select a neutral gray seamless paper to contrast with and emphasize the colors of the costumes. The lights are ready. The camera is set. All I need now are subjects. Quickly I make a publicrelations run through the encampment, carefully explaining to anyone who will listen that I want to take portraits of ceremonial dancers before they perform. The response is slow at first, but gradually my tiny makeshift studio begins to fill up with Zuñis, Navajos, Apaches, Tohono O'odham (Papagos), Pimas, Kiowas, Comanches, and Taos Pueblo Indians. As my lights flash inside, lightning plays nearby, and a driving rain begins. My good fortune ends abruptly. The roof is little help against the watery onslaught; rain soaks the gray backdrop, and finally it collapses in a soggy mess. My shoot is over. My equipment and spirits are damp. But I take comfort in knowing I've got the photographs I came for.

February 13, 14, and 15 are O'odham Tash— Indian Days—in Casa Grande, Arizona. A citywide gesture of goodwill, this year's twentieth annual celebration includes an all-Indian rodeo, full-dress parades, ceremonial dances, a powwow with Indian dancers and a "chicken scratch" band, the crowning of Miss O'odham Tash, and Indian "taka" games (similar to field hockey) in which all tribes compete. There also will be a basketball tournament, a ten-kilometer crosscountry run, and an invitation-only show and sale of fine basketry, woven rugs, jewelry, kachinas, graphic arts, and other Indian crafts. As in past years, Indian vendors will sell the traditional frybread, and on Saturday a barbecue is scheduled for noon in Peart Park. Begun in 1966, O'odham Tash annually attracts Native American participants from every state in the Union as well as Canada and Mexico—and thousands of visitors and spectators. For more information, call or write Greater Casa Grande Chamber of Commerce, 575 North Marshall, Casa Grande, AZ 85222; (602) 836-2125. -R.G.S.

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