Edie Baskin, a longtime Wood River Valley resident, gained a certain celebrity for her witty and engaging photographic work in television and the music industry. But her latest series of photographs is a far cry from the world of celebrities and musicians.
In 2003, she took a chance, made a trek to Indio, Calif., from her home in Los Angeles and set about capturing the contemporary spirit of the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians.
"My work has taken me on an incredible journey from documenting television history to shooting portraits of objects and famous faces. This project has allowed me to delve deeper into the unknown and I am proud of what I've captured and revealed," Baskin said.
Entitled "Edie Baskin: New Native Americans," the resulting photographic glimpse into the spirit of contemporary Native Americans will be exhibited at the Ochi Gallery in Ketchum from Saturday, Feb. 18, through March 22. She will be at the gallery for the opening. The work consists of large 4-by-5 portraits of members of the Cabazon Nation, some in their dress regalia.
"My husband (Skip Bronson) had been involved with some of the tribes and he had a meeting with the Cabazon, whom he knew," Baskin said. "I asked if I could get in to photograph at their annual Pow Wow. For the most part, if you're not Native American, you can't be a participant. But they agreed to give me a booth. I had a little sign with my bio that said if they'd let me take their photo, I'd send them a copy. In the beginning people walked by and looked in. They're extremely proud, but they wanted a picture, too."
After awhile, a lot of people showed up at the booth.
"They were very shy," Baskin said. "It was hard to get a word out of them. But when they did it they were really excited, especially the kids.
"The images speak to me because of the combo of now and then. They show you—by what they're wearing—where they are in taking the past and keeping it with them."
She took 50 photographs and true to her word, sent every subject their photo. She never coached the models.
"I asked them to do what they wanted to do. It ran the gamut. One of my favorites is a woman with a tattoo like a necklace. That was how she expressed herself. Many wore native regalia. They'd come from everywhere, as far away as North Dakota, in all kinds of modes of transportation."
Baskin is best known for her 25 years of photography on "Saturday Night Live." When the show premiered in 1975, her original hand-tinted portraits of the guest hosts and the title sequences established the show's signature graphic style.
Her work has been published in books, on album covers and in national publications such as People, Time, Newsweek, Interview and Rolling Stone. Her photographs can be found in no less than four books about the "Saturday Night Live" years, as well as the "Paul Simon Song Book."
Baskin has also contributed to advertising campaigns for many films including "Look Who's Talking" and, the work she is most proud of, Terrence Malick's Academy Award-winning "Days of Heaven."
She has also been exhibited nationally at museums and galleries and was recently featured in "Troubadour of the Highway," a collection of Bruce Springsteen images that are traveling the country.
Her departure from New York, where she'd been based for many years, for a new home in Los Angeles caused her to take a break in her career.
"I'd been doing it such a long time," she said. "I was pretty burned out, so when we moved I took some time off. (My daughter) Annabelle is 16, so I took a couple years to get back into it. Now I've started another series on teenagers. I'm loving doing this, loving the images."
This show was especially fortuitous. Baskin had heard Dennis Ochi was interested in talking to her about her work.
"Ochi shows really big names, and I'm not on the gallery circuit," she said. "I called him up and told him I'd been doing this new series. It was very, very lucky."
As for future shows, she's entirely pragmatic. "I'm at a point where I'm doing what I'm doing; I'm going to do it anyway."
Edie at Ochi
Three-time Emmy Award nominee and Saturday Night Live photographer Edie Baskin will unveil her new work, "Edie Baskin: New Native Americans," at the Ochi Gallery on Saturday, Feb. 18, from 7 to 9 p.m. Ochi is located at 119 Lewis St., Ketchum.
Photos by Edie Baskin
