Scott Strong Hawk Foster

Central Massachusetts Artist Initiative

November 6, 2024–May 11, 2025

Sidney and Rosalie Rose Gallery (321)

Scott Strong Hawk Foster, 'Scrapping, Herring Pond', 09/03/23, archival inkjet photograph

“My ethos as an Indigenous artist is to represent my family and my community authentically, to record compelling images that make known the true stories of our heritage, values, and oral traditions, and to attest to how we are thriving today. This is ‘the why’ behind what I do.”

– Scott Strong Hawk Foster

Scott Strong Hawk Foster is a Native American photographer whose proud roots include Hassanamisco Nipmuc, Mohegan, and Cherokee lineage. His Central Massachusetts Artist Initiative (CMAI) installation exhibits several photographs from his ongoing series, Ways of My Ancestors – We Are Still Here, which highlights the beauty, pride, and resilience of the Eastern Woodlands People of Southern New England. The selected photographs will predominantly feature Nipmuc(k) people, who are indigenous to Central Massachusetts as well as to northern Rhode Island and Connecticut.

The Central Massachusetts Artist Initiative is supported by the Don and Mary Melville Contemporary Art Fund and John M. Nelson Fund.

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Audio

Listen to the artist, the people featured in his photographs, and other members of the Nipmuc(k) community discuss Strong Hawk’s ongoing series, Ways of My Ancestors – We Are Still Here. Check back as more interviews will be added during the course of the exhibition.

Bruce Star Curliss viewing the exhibition
Bruce Star Curliss viewing the exhibition. Photography courtesy of the artist.
Tribal Territories Southern New England
Tribal Territories, Southern New England. Credit: Nikater; adapted to English by Hydrargyrum, CC BY-SA 3.0
Bruce Star Curliss, Hassanamisco Nipmuc
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, 'Liz Cold Wind Santana Kiser with her daughter Toni Quiet Fawn Santana Kiser, Chabunagungamaug Nipmuck Tribe,' July 31, 2022, archival inkjet photograph
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Liz Cold Wind Santana Kiser with her daughter Toni Quiet Fawn Santana Kiser, Chabunagungamaug Nipmuck Tribe, July 31, 2022, archival inkjet photograph. Courtesy of the artist.
Liz Cold Wind Santana Kiser,  Chabunagungamaug Nipmuck Tribe
Toni Quiet Fawn Santana Kiser, Chabunagungamaug Nipmuck Tribe
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, 'First Americans: Catherine Ocean Sunrise Foster, Hassanamisco Nipmuc Tribe,' detail, August 31, 2010, archival inkjet photograph. Courtesy of the artist
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, First Americans: Catherine Ocean Sunrise Foster, Hassanamisco Nipmuc Tribe, detail, August 31, 2010, archival inkjet photograph. Courtesy of the artist.
Catherine Ocean Sunrise Foster, Hassanamisco Nipmuc
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, 'Andre Strongbearheart Gaines, Jr., Nipmuc Tribe', July 31, 2022, archival inkjet photograph
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Andre Strongbearheart Gaines, Jr., Nipmuc Tribe, July 31, 2022, archival inkjet photograph. Courtesy of the artist.
Andre StrongBearHeart Gaines, Jr., Nipmuc Tribe
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, 'Scrapping, Herring Pond', 09/03/23, archival inkjet photograph
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Scrapping, Herring Pond, September 3, 2023, archival inkjet photograph. Courtesy of the artist.
Taylor She Who Walks With Thunder Stasis, Herring Pond Wampanoag
Miciah Stasis, Herring Pond Wampanoag
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, 'Daishuan Tall Hair Red Deer Garate, III, Nipmuc Tribe, MA,' September 10, 2022, archival inkjet photograph
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Daishuan Tall Hair Red Deer Garate, III, Nipmuc Tribe, MA, September 10, 2022, archival inkjet photograph. Courtesy of the artist.
Daishuan Tall Hair Red Deer Garate, III, Nipmuc Tribe
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Mishoon, made by the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, Charlestown, MA, November 6, 2022, archival inkjet photograph
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Mishoon, made by the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, Charlestown, MA, November 6, 2022, archival inkjet photograph. Courtesy of the artist
Thomas Spirit Tree Green, Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag
Andre StrongBearHeart Gaines, Jr., Nipmuc Tribe
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, 'Controlled Burn of a Mishoon by Nipmuc tribe, Wayside Inn, Sudbury, MA', September 6, 2022, archival inkjet photograph
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Controlled Burn of a Mishoon by Nipmuc tribe, Wayside Inn, Sudbury, MA, September 6, 2022, archival inkjet photograph. Courtesy of the artist.
Artist Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Hassanamisco Nipmuc

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