Russel Albert Daniels is a documentary photographer and multidisciplinary artist based in Salt Lake City whose work illuminates overlooked histories of the American West, with particular focus on Indigenous communities and their contemporary experiences. His ongoing project La Cautiva illuminates centuries of Spanish colonial and Mormon settler Indigenous captivity and enslavement in the American Southwest Borderlands through portraiture, landscape photography, and documentation of cultural performance.
The first chapter of La Cautiva - The Genízaro Pueblo of Abiquiú - was exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York (2022-2023) and later at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis (2024). From May 2024 to May 2026, the Tacoma Art Museum presents The Abiqueños and The Artist, a groundbreaking exhibition developed in collaboration with Daniels and curated by Patricia Marroquin Norby (Purépecha), the Metropolitan Museum of Art's first Indigenous curator. The exhibition pairs Daniels' Abiquiú photographs with Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings of the same landscape, creating a dialogue between O'Keeffe's romantic vision of northern New Mexico and the lived experiences of its Indigenous inhabitants.
La Cautiva emerges from Daniels' own family history - his Diné (Navajo) ancestor Rose was taken captive as a child in the 1850s from Dinétah, the Navajo homeland, during a White River Ute slave raid. She endured years of bondage among the Utes in Colorado before being trafficked into the new Utah Territory and sold to polygamist Mormon settler Aaron Daniels. After marrying Aaron and having four children, Rose enrolled with the Uintah & Ouray Reservation in 1889. Through his Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) maternal lineage and as the first generation in five born off the Ute reservation, Daniels navigates the complexities of Indigenous and settler colonial heritage in his work.
His photographs are held in permanent collections including the Library of Congress, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Amon Carter Museum of Art, and Utah Museum of Fine Arts. His reportage and documentary projects have covered pivotal Indigenous rights issues including the Bears Ears National Monument, Standing Rock protests, Two-Spirit identity, and climate crisis impacts on Native lands. His photographs have appeared in publications such as National Geographic, The New York Times, Mother Jones, High Country News, ProPublica, Emergence Magazine, Popular Mechanics, and Sierra Magazine.
Working primarily across Utah, the Mountain West, Southwest, and Great Basin regions, Daniels employs collaborative methodologies that center Indigenous perspectives while bridging documentary traditions with contemporary visual storytelling. His work challenges viewers to reconsider America's historical narratives while celebrating Indigenous resilience and contemporary presence.
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Russel's photographs are included in the permanent collections:
- The Library of Congress, Washington, DC
- Utah Museum of Fine Art Salt Lake City, UT
- Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
- National Gallery Of Art/Library Acquisitions, Greater Landover, MD
- The State of Utah Alice Merrill Horne Art Collection, Salt Lake City, UT,
- Salt Lake County Visual Art Collection, UT
- Amon Carter Museum of Art, Fort Worth, TX
- J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
His work has been exhibited nationally at venues including:
- Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Tacoma Art Museum
- Eiteljorg Museum
- Utah Valley University Museum
- Utah Museum of Fine Art
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RECENT NEWS
November 2025 Russel published San Rafael: The Geography of Captivity, an open edition artist book/zine with photography and essay documenting the Old Spanish Trail as a slave route. Created during his Frontier Fellowship residency at the Epicenter in Green River, Utah.
January 2026 Two large-format aerial photographs included in Altered States in the Acid West, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA), Salt Lake City, Utah. Curated by Jared Steffensen.
2026 The Museum of Utah will feature an artist video profile on Daniels' work exploring Indigenous enslavement and captivity in the American Southwest at its grand opening.
Ongoing through May 2026 The Tacoma Art Museum continues to present The Abiqueños and The Artist, a groundbreaking exhibition pairing Russel's photographs from La Cautiva with Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings of northern New Mexico. The exhibition, which opened in May 2024, creates a dialogue between O'Keeffe's romantic vision of the Abiquiú landscape and the living history of its Indigenous Genízaro inhabitants. Curated by Dr. Patricia Marroquin Norby (Purépecha), the Metropolitan Museum of Art's first Indigenous curator, the show challenges conventional narratives about the American Southwest.
2024/2025 Russel was named a Frontier Fellow at the Epicenter, supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, recognizing his ongoing work documenting Indigenous histories in the American West.
January 2024 Artist Talk at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Russel spoke about how his ancestral connections to Utah and the Southwest helped create the visual storyteller and artist he is today. This was followed by a conversation with Emily Lawhead, UMFA associate curator.
March 2024 The Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis exhibited the complete first chapter of La Cautiva titled The Genízaro Pueblo of Abiquiú, made in collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Russel participated in an Indigenous photographer panel at the opening event alongside photographers Tailyr Irvine and Donovan Quintero.
May 2024 The Tacoma Art Museum hosted select works from La Cautiva in an exhibition entitled The Abiquiños and The Artist.
September 2024 Wild Rose’s – photography and ink drawings – Material Gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In 2023, Russel's photography was included in the following group exhibitions: In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now at Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Art of Belonging at UVU Museum of Art, Utah, Shaping Landscape: 100 Years of Photography in Utah at Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and Mother Wound public exhibition at Celebration of the Hand, Craft Lake City, Salt Lake City, Utah.
2022 Developing Stories: The Genízaro Pueblo of Abiquiú – curated by Cecile Ganteaume, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, NYC
Contact Russel: russel (at) russeldaniels (dot) com
Email Russel about prints and zines.
Russel is a member of Indigenous Photograph and Diversify Photo
Tintype portrait by Brett Briggs
CV
Russel Albert Daniels
Born: 1974
EDUCATION
2009 BA, The School of Journalism, University of Montana, Missoula, MT
SOLO AND MULTI-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024 Wild Roses – photographs and drawings – Material Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
2024 The Abiqueños and The Artist – curated by Dr. Patricia Marroquin Norby, Tacoma Art Museum, WA
2024 Developing Stories: The Genízaro Pueblo of Abiquiú – Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN
2023 Mother Wound – Essential Photo Supply, Salt Lake City, UT
2023 Mother Wound – Craft Lake City, Celebration of the Hand, Public Art exhibition, Salt Lake City, UT
2022 Developing Stories: The Genízaro Pueblo of Abiquiú – curated by Cecile Ganteaume, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, NYC
2016 Blossom as a Rose – God Hates Robots, Salt Lake City, UT
2009 Love Your Body – University Center, University of Montana, Missoula, MT
2004 Bosnia – Anderson Foothill Library, Salt Lake City, UT
1996 Darkroom – Bibliotech, Salt Lake City, UT
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Altered States in the Acid West – Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA), Salt Lake City, Utah
2023 In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now – Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
2023 Shaping Landscape: 100 Years of Photography in Utah – Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT
2023 The Art of Belonging – Utah Valley University, Museum of Art, Orem, UT
2020 Fotobok Festival – Oslo, Norway
2019 A World Transformed: the Transcontinental Railroad and Utah – Rio Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
2018 Cubanidad – traveling exhibition, Utah Arts & Museums, UT
2011 Free the Hikers, San Francisco, CA
2010 Kiss, Kayo Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
2008 Juried Exhibition, Gallery Saintonge, Missoula, MT
2007 Inner Primate, Red Light Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
2005 Apparatus, Print Exchange, Monk's Pop-Up Gallery, Salt Lake, UT
2004 Citizen, Print Exchange, Walk of Shame Gallery, Salt Lake, UT
2003 Statewide Photographic Exhibition, Eccles Community Art Center, Ogden, UT
PUBLICATIONS
2025 San Rafael: The Geography of Captivity, self-published, open edition artist book/zine, photography and essay by Russel Albert Daniels
2025 In Light and Shadow: A Photographic History from Indigenous America – Black Dog & Leventhal
2023 Mother Wound, self-published, open edition artist book/zine, photography by Russel Albert Daniels
2023 In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now, exhibition catalog – Minneapolis Institute of Art
2018 Bears Ears, self-published, limited edition artist book/zine, photography by Russel Albert Daniels, poem by Denae Shanidiin, essay by Terry Tempest Williams
2017 Wasatch XXX, self-published, open edition artist book/zine, photography and essay by Russel Albert Daniels
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
The Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT
Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
National Gallery of Art/Library Acquisitions, Greater Landover, MD
The State of Utah Alice Merrill Horne Art Collection, Salt Lake City, UT
Salt Lake County Visual Art Collection, UT
Amon Carter Museum of Art, Fort Worth, TX
J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
COMMISSIONS/PUBLISHED WORK
High Country News, ProPublica, Emergence Magazine, National Geographic, The New York Times, Mother Jones, Sierra Magazine, The New Yorker, Smithsonian American Indian Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, Catchlight, Gizmodo, Associated Press, Native Voices, SLUG Magazine, Elsevier, Latino USA, The Bay Citizen, NPR, KUER, Popular Mechanics
HONORS, AWARDS, AND GRANTS
2026 [Award to be announced February 2026]
2026 Museum of Utah artist video profile
2024/2025 Warhol Frontier Fellow at the Epicenter
2023 The Yunghi Grant, Awardee
2022 The Aftermath Project, Finalist
2021 Utah Arts & Museums Visual Arts, Artist Fellowship
2021 National Geographic Society, COVID-19 Emergency Fund
2019 Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Project support
2011 44 Second Ode to Newspaper, Tiny Video First Place, Albany Film Festival, CA
2010 Blackfeet Juveniles System, Society of Professional Journalist, multimedia, 4th place
2008 Chips Quinn Scholar, Freedom Forum, Workshop
2008 The Great Falls Tribune, Scholarship
2008 Joe Durso Project Grant, University of Montana, The School of Journalism
2008 Native American Journalists Association, Scholarship
2006 Associated Press, Diverse Voices/Diverse Vision, Cincinnati, OH
2005 American Indian Journalism Institute, Freedom Forum, SD, Workshop & Scholarship
2005 Nikon Photographer's Forum Magazine Contest, Finalist
2004 Eccles Community Art Center, UT, print competition, 2nd place
WORK EXPERIENCE
2012, 2011 Crazy Horse Journalism Workshop, mentor, Black Hills, SD
2009 Associated Press, photojournalism contract, San Francisco, CA
2008 Associated Press, photojournalism internship, Chicago, IL
2006 Saint Cloud Times, photojournalism internship, St. Cloud, MN
2005 Argus Leader, photojournalism internship, Sioux Falls, SD
2005 Spy Hop, photo instructor, Salt Lake City, UT
2003 Youth City, photo instructor, Salt Lake City, UT
1999 Black and White on White, darkroom printer, New York City, NY
1996 Wyeth, furniture refinisher, New York City, NY
1992 Daniels Painting INC., journeyman painter, Salt Lake City, UT
PUBLIC TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
2025 Artist Presentation, Utah Division of Arts and Museums, Utah Valley University Art Museum, Orem, UT
2024 Artist Talk, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, UT
2023 "Visual Sovereignty: Native American Artists and the Power of the Lens" Crit-Salon, Modern West Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
2023 "Fresh Focus on Native American Photography" panel, Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, NYC
2023 Native America Calling Indigenous Photographer panel podcast
2020 Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian artist conversation
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Roka, Les. "Fascinating portal into history, memory, preservation of Native American artistic, cultural heritage: Russel Albert Daniels — Wild Roses at Material Art Gallery" The Utah Review, October 2024.
Gaddie, Nicole. "Russel Albert Daniels' 'Wild Roses' Brings Visibility to Indigenous Communities" Salt Lake Underground Magazine, October 2024.
Rossiter, Shawn. "Russel Albert Daniels' 'Mother Wound' Chronicles Industrial Intrusions on Sacred Lands" 15 Bytes, August 2023.
Moses, Jeanette. "Behind the Photos: Russel Albert Daniels' aerial landscapes reveal industrial degradation in the west" DP Review, December 2023.
Hill, Scotti. "Russel Albert Daniels Exposes Native Enslavement and Genocide in the Southwest" Southwest Contemporary, October 2023.
Farris, Phoebe. "An Interview with Photojournalist Russel Albert Daniels" Cultural Survival Quarterly, March 2023.
Jayswal, Palak. "How do Indigenous people in Utah celebrate Thanksgiving? It's complicated" The Salt Lake Tribune, November 2022.
Ganteaume, Cecile R. "Developing Stories: Native Photographers in the Field Presents Contemporary Native Experiences from the Inside" Smithsonian American Indian Magazine, March 2020.