Carmelita "Carm" Little Turtle is an Apache/Tarahumara photographer[1][2] born in Santa Maria, California, on June 4, 1952.
Little Turtle's constructed photographic tableaux cast her husband, her relatives, and herself as characters in a variety of Southwestern landscapes that serve as backdrops to the dynamics of interpersonal relationships.
[2][4] "The iconography in my work, by that I mean the props and costumes, is a private symbolism rather than one imposed by the dominant culture.
The symbolism and mythology that dominant society attaches to indigenous people is nothing more than a salve for a troubled collective conscience.
I attempt to imply a timelessness in my work which stimulates feelings that represent past, present, and future.