Navajo student at Carlisle.ADORNED

Torlino, Navajo male

I've seen this photograph published in books and on the internet several times and have met the great-grandaughter of Torlino once.

This photograph was said to be taken as he arrived to the Carlisle Indian Boarding School in PA. They often show it as the "before" photo as he was taken from his homelands to the east.

Here we see him ADORNED with Navajo silver jewerly. As was traditional he has both of his ears pierced, both with silver hoops.  He is wearing a silver choker, a motif that some say was adapted by the Spanish missionaries and or conquistadors. But, many Navajo have used this symboli the arts of rugs and in sandpaintings.

This photograph is truly magnificent. He looks so regal, and truly Indigenous.