Johnston was a photographer in his Tlingit community of Teslin, Yukon, from approximately 1910 to 1950. He taught himself photography, including developing his own film and making prints. He bought a car and advocated for roads to be built so he and others could more freely traverse the region. As this image of children playing “funeral” testifies, Johnston’s photographs do not shy away from the harsh realities of life, but in naming the children and having them pose he also indicates his position as a deeply embedded member of his community.

In 1978, Yukon artist Jim Robb purchased many of Johnston’s photographs and sold them to the Yukon Archives. The collection and Johnston’s unique story inspired the George Johnston Museum of Tlingit history in the Yukon and an NFB film, Picturing a People: George Johnston, Tlingit Photographer, 1997. Starting in the 1980s, younger photographers and curators began to write about and exhibit his work as they built a more accessible history of Indigenous photography. Today, the George Johnston Fonds at the Yukon Archives consist of over one hundred photographs, including negatives and prints. His images can also be found in the Julie Cruikshank Fonds and the Their Own Yukon Project collection.

Image: George Johnston, Five children playing funeral, c.1930–50, black and white nitrate negative, 9.1 x 14.9 cm, Yukon Archives, Whitehorse.

For further reading, see:

Farrell Racette, Sherry. “Returning Fire, Pointing the Canon: Aboriginal Photography as Resistance.” In The Cultural Work of Photography in Canada, edited by Carol Payne and Andrea Kunard, 74–75. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011.

Geddes, Carol, dir. Picturing a People: George Johnston, Tlingit Photographer, video, 50 minutes. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada, 1997. www.nfb.ca/film/picturing_a_people_george_johnston/.

George Johnston Fonds. Yukon: Department of Tourism and Culture, Archival Descriptions. Last modified March 2, 2020. yukon.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/ARC/DESC/SISN%204479?SESSIONSEARCH.

Hill, Richard, and Sandra Semchuk. Silver Drum: Five Native Photographers; George Johnston, Dorothy Chocolate, Richard Hill, Murray McKenzie, Jolene Rickard. Hamilton: Native Indian / Inuit Photographers’ Association / NIIPA, 1986.

Strathman, Nicole Dawn. Through a Native Lens: American Indian Photography. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2020.