By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – Madison Hye Long looks at things differently than most people. She has the eye of a photographer and sees the world through her lens. Nine years ago, I wrote these two sentences as the opening of an article I did on Long, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), as her photography was being featured in a show in the San Francisco gallery Galeria De La Raza, and they fit now more than ever.
When Long picks up her camera, it is as though she is picking up a paint brush – art comes through time after time and timeless art is created.
Madison Hye Long, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Cherokee second language learner, addresses the crowd at the beginning of the 5K Walk/Run for Cherokee Language Revitalization on March 28 at Kituwah – an event she organized. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photo)
Her work was featured in a New York Times article in 2018 entitled “Native American Photographers Unite to Challenge Inaccurate Narratives”.
I interviewed her about the article, and she noted that she uses her life experiences in her work. “I take a lot of it with me. I know where I’m from, and I make sure I always add in some sort of it. Just the Rez in general is a personality, and I always put that in every bit of my work. But, I am a lot different than everybody here, that’s for sure, and I think that’s good. Differentiality is super-good. I always know who I am and just who I want to be.”
She has been featured in numerous art exhibits including a very public one at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2023 entitled “This Land Calls Us Home”. Long joined four other EBCI tribal members and members of other southeastern tribes for the exhibit.
While Long is still quite active with her photography, she has become very active as a Cherokee second-language learner and has graduated from the CLMAP (Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program). Last fall, she attended the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in New Zealand with over 20 other members of the EBCI.
Long said she learned a lot at the conference but was most impressed with the model of land-based learning especially as it pertains to language. “I can relate to that because I grew up in the woods and I learned a lot of stuff that you can’t get in a classroom. I think that’s really important as a Cherokee individual. So, maybe creating language land-based camps…to where we’re stepping away from a classroom setting and then learning the language in our natural setting.
They don’t teach the language, they feed it. That just stuck out to me, so we’ve got to do that to our community. And, I think when we go for the aspect of feeding it instead of just teaching it, we do it with more love in our hearts.”
“Tela Wildoni’s Sunrise”, by Long, was in the “This Land Calls Us Home” exhibit which was displayed at the T North Concourse at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2023.
To encourage language learning, she organized the 5K Walk/Run for Cherokee Language Revitalization which was held at Kituwah – the Mother Town of the Cherokee – in March. At that event, she noted, “I’ve been learning the language for about three years now – along with the other language warriors, I like to call them – within the adult language program. Right now, I’m working as an advanced linguist apprentice, and we’re trying to really crack down and break apart the Cherokee language and really starting to study Cherokee grammar.”
With passionate people like her working daily, the Cherokee language will continue to thrive more and more.
Going back to the 2018 article I wrote on Long regarding her involvement in the New York Times article, let’s revisit a quote. She told me, “I hope to make some sort of impact.”
Well, you are…you 100 percent are, and your impact will be felt for generations.
