John's Blog

Steele Indian School Park

I took these images at Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix Arizona yesterday. I was excited when I saw the shadows on the wall and hoped I would like it as much when I got a chance to look at it more closely later. It is still very hot out here even though we are already into September. That sun can make you feel old and weathered if you stay out in it long enough, so I decided to make these photos look the same way I felt. Actually, I thought this was a fitting finish for photos from a historic site - maybe the way it might have looked if photographed back when it was built.

The circular wall image with the tree shadows is found on the east side of the park. The image of the building is the beautifully restored Memorial Hall, built in 1922.

An Excerpt from Wikipedia About Steele Indian School Park:

"The park is on the site of the Phoenix Indian School, one of several boarding schools owned and operated by the U.S. government, designed in the late 19th century to socialize and assimilate Native Americans into the dominant Euro-American socio-cultural system. These schools became controversial in later decades for the alleged mistreatment of their students, as well as the suppression and prohibition of the students' indigenous culture and languages."