Horace Poolaw was a Native American photographer whose career spanned 50 years. Horace Poolaw was also called Kaw-au-in-on-tay and he was a member of the Kiowa tribe in Southern Oklahoma (“Horace Poolaw: Photographer”). Poolaw was born in 1906 in Mountain View, Oklahoma and died in 1984 (“Poolaw, Horace”). Initially his chosen format for creating artwork was painting, but that changed when he began working with a photographer that specialized in taking photographs of landscapes named George Long (“Horace Poolaw: Photographer”). George Long sold his photo studio to John Coyle and Poolaw then started to work with Coyle (“Poolaw, Horace”). Shortly after beginning his work with Coyle, Poolaw started photographing Kiowa culture in the 1920’s (“Poolaw, Horace”). He specialized in black and white photography, but sometimes he hand colored his photographs (Toyacoyah Brown). Poolaw served in the military during WWll giving instruction on the techniques of aerial photography ((“Horace Poolaw: Photographer”). After the war, he went back to his home in Anadarko, Oklahoma to raise cattle (“Poolaw, Horace”). Much of his catalog of work involves subjects that he had a personal relationship such as members of his immediate or extended family. His Native American heritage allowed him the unique ability to chronicle aspects Kiowa life in Oklahoma throughout a half century (Onion, Rebecca). Due to the length of his career and his prolific body of work it is difficult to specify any one or even a few of his works as being considered “significant”. All of his images are significant and the interpretation of their importance changes based on who is viewing the image because they can elicit different responses from viewer to viewer.  Poolaw’s work provides a first person view of the events that happened over several decades to the Kiowa tribe in Southern Oklahoma. Because of his heritage he has access to events, people, and sit