Aunt Inez is one of the earliest examples of Bobby C. Martin (Muscogee) utilizing his family photographs as subject matter, an artistic decision that continues to impact his aesthetic. Aunt Inez was her family’s officially appointed head cook, and the original photograph was taken on the family allotment in Muscogee territory. Aunt Inez is part of a series of ten etchings featuring historical photographs of Martin’s Muscogee matriarchs, which he created in 1992. He achieved the richly textured sepia tonal values and a higher definition of form by combining etching with aquatint, a technique that produces lines as well as areas of shaded tone.

—Jordan Poorman Cocker, Henry Luce Foundation Curatorial Scholar for Indigenous Painting Collection Research, 2021

This text was developed from an interview with Bobby C. Martin by Jordan Poorman Cocker, April 13, 2021