Umoho Portraits Project Background: Book in Progress, The Umoho is a federally recognized Native American Tribe that resides mainly in Northeastern Nebraska and Western Iowa. Only a handful of Umoho Native American fluent speakers remain. However, there is very dedicated group of Native American teachers trying to keep their language and culture alive. I was approached by one of the spiritual leaders of the people who introduced me to many elders, and descendants of Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte. Dr. Susan was the first Native American to earn a Medical Degree. She graduated Valedictorian in 1889 from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (Currently Drexler University). The spiritual leader and the Chairman of the Big Elk Native American Center asked me to honor the elders, teachers and the next generation of the Omaha people through photographs (portraits) and audio recordings. These images are the amalgamation of this work. I work very closely with the Native American community while creating the content for this project. An elder is present when making photographic portraits and/or hearing their stories. This project focuses on honoring the legacy of Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte instead of simply recording the Umoho people. Dr. Susan built a hospital in Walthill, NE (on the reservation) which still stands today. My goal is to help the Umoho people (through the sale of my images) restore the original hospital to serve as a museum and testament to her legacy. All of the portraits created for the book shall be printed in Platinum/Palladium. It is my way of honoring these fine people.